That’s Not My Job

OK, so it’s a silly little word play. We’re not talking about a task, but a person. But you will get the point.

“that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1:1 NAS95)

This verse refers to a man named Job (in the Old Testament, right before Psalms), and it also describes Jesus. I wonder to what extent it would, or could, apply to me.

I did a series some time ago on Jonah and Jesus. I concluded that I was much more like Jonah than Jesus. But this one is different. Job starts out, out of the gate, with very high credentials. I’d like to spend a few moments on each, for my benefit, - maybe for someone else’s as well.

“Blameless” is translated in KJV as “perfect.” It has the sense, not of flawlessness, but rather, of completion. Job was complete in his makeup, and in the dedication of the totality of that makeup, to God.

Job was not half a man. He was not one of those “men without chests” described by C.S. Lewis. He was not one of those “little-souled” men, as Jesus called his disciples on more than one occasion (translated “men of little faith”). Job was not big on talk and little in action. He was not merely a man of good intentions, lacking in follow-through. He was not compartmentalized, so that he could be holy in one corner of his life, and perverse in another.

And Jesus was also blameless, and even more so. No void. No shadows. No secrets. No regrets. He was, and is, complete. As I walk in fellowship with Jesus, I must find the He is not tolerant of tolerated inconsistency. We must identify and attack areas of life that display less than whole-hearted discipleship.

“Upright” means straight. Job knew what he was about, and he was not distracted from that high road. Jesus also knew His mission. And His mission was not merely a task, but a life lived in fellowship with God, and in fulfilling God’s will, no matter what it cost Him personally.

I am easily distracted. I pursue goals that prove not to be worth the time and effort. My latest “great idea” collects tarnish in a hurry. There is a back room full of them. I am also easily discouraged, lacking the fortitude to pursue godly behaviors and pursuits through the gauntlet of difficulties and disciplines needed to accomplish something worthwhile, by God’s grace and enablement. But Job, and Jesus, even more so, walked a straight path of fellowship with God and fulfillment of His will for their lives.

Job feared God. Many of the details of Jobs life are lost in the fog of ancient history. God has given us all the details that we need. But one of the mistakes we often make (I read this recently in Chesterton) is that if it happened a long time ago, then, because of progress, we conclude that it was different for them. In this case, I struggle with people-pleasing, but Job probably didn’t have that problem, because, why would you bother trying to impress primitive men? It must have been easier for Job to fear God than for me. Rubbish. God was large in Job’s mind and heart, and He is far too small in mine. And Jesus, even more so, displayed a rock-solid understanding of God’s size and sovereignty. I have a deep need to read my Bible slowly, and to take what it says about God (and other things) literally, that is, as though it is really true.

Finally, Job turned away from evil. He did not walk in the counsel of the gody, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful (Psalm 1). He did not play games with sin, or flirt with temptation. Job was a man who could tell himself “No!” and mean it. And I, and you, must do the same.

So far, this Job isn’t my Job. But I would like him to be. But Jesus, though I fall far short, is indeed my Jesus, because He gave Himself for me in order that I can become like Job, and even more so, like Jesus.

The Spirit and Sexual Sin

We live in a culture that flaunts sexuality. Unbelievers who come to Christ have likely been stained and affected by these practices, and those who profess faith in Christ are commonly falling into practices that are contrary to our calling in Christ.

On the other hand, we believe that for followers of Christ, the Spirit of God has worked to save and is continuing to work to sanctify. Fellow Christians desire to be used by God in the progressive maturing and perfecting of those who profess Christ and desire to serve Him.

The material in 1 Thessalonians speaks both to the issue of the Spirit in the lives of believers, and the problem of sexual sin. I will try to weave these together.

Biblical Foundation

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 is perhaps the clearest and most direct New Testament passage that calls for sexual purity. Paul places this aspect of the believer’s walk (v.1) in the category of sanctification (3:13; 4:3,4,7), and attributes the power for behavioral change to the Holy Spirit (v.8).

Other references to the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians show that this Spirit powerfully brings radical change of heart and life orientation at conversion (1:5, and evidenced in 1:9,10). This same Spirit is involved in examining a believer’s heart (2:4) and in applying God’s will and Word (2:13) to his/her life. But the purifying influence of this Spirit can also be hindered (5:19) by neglecting/despising the living Word of God in lesson and/or application (5:20), and by tolerating/adopting evil influences.

So we expect that the effective work of the Spirit in the believer’s life will be brought to bear against practices of sexual sin. It will not merely be tolerated or controlled. We expect that the ongoing influence of the Spirit will defeat practices of sexual sin.

As we look at the nature and demands of gospel ministry in 1 Thessalonians 2, we can see how sexual sin, along with other sins, will prohibit a minister from fully giving himself to those to whom he is to minister. He (or she) will be holding back in selfish ways. Sexual sin trains one in self-seeking rather than in self-giving (2:8); sexual sin steals personal and spiritual resources that should be dedicated to ministry (2:13, day and night ministry), including time, energy, enthusiasm and imagination. We conclude that sexual sin is a hindrance to the gospel ministry, just as are Christ-haters (2:16) and Satan himself (2:18).

Practical Application

So given the fact that all of us are sinners, and that it is possible that many of us have incidences of sexual sin in our history, here are some conclusions that I believe are consistent with an expectation that the Spirit intends a sanctifying work in our lives.

We should expect and demand from one another
a) Unflinching honesty concerning sin, and
b) Clear actions taken that are the fruit of repentance.

Honesty Concerning Sin:
• Telling the truth
• Telling the whole truth
• A refusal to minimize the sin
• A refusal to blame
• A refusal to make excuses

The Fruit of Repentance:
• The follower of Christ takes iniative in dealing with sin.

When a person is caught in their sin, as opposed to taking the initiative to deal with their sin, it is nearly impossible to discern the fruit of repentance. This does not mean that a person who is caught in sin is not repentant. It just means that we cannot be sure if they are sorry for their sin, or sorry they were caught. So we desire to see actions that take the initiative in dealing with sin even before it is exposed.

That means that you and I must take initiative with our sins, whether they be sexual sins or some other category. Don’t just cover it up. Don’t try to manage it. Attack it. Take the initiative in battling that behavior in your life.

This does not mean that you are trusting in your own actions in order to accomplish sanctification. No, it is the Spirit who sanctifies. Pray that the Spirit would give victory. But don’t just pray and ask to change after experiencing some failure, expecting that the Spirit will work in spite of your actions and patterns. Make and plan, and work the plan, and improve the plan – but trust in the Spirit to do what only He can do.

• We are to pay careful attention to the underlying cause of our sins (why is/was this temptation to powerful for me?).

There is much material available that helps us to understand what is going on in our hearts that then is manifested in the form of sexual sin.

• There is careful attention paid to the circumstances in which failure may occur, and how to avoid those circumstances. Have any roadblocks been placed to make a return to sin more difficult?

Again, there is much material available to guide us in practical steps that we can take that make sense.

• There has been care in establishing accountability.

• That a plan to deal with the sin is working, and that the individual has not stopped pursuing a plan that is effective.

• The individual has engaged in a walk with Christ which makes it obvious that he/she has a desire to love Christ more than he/she loves the sin.

The goal in all this is that we want to serve Christ with those who are walking with the Spirit. To be engaged in sexual sin, and sins of other sorts, is to walk another path. We are then walking in the flesh, not in the Spirit. A return to the path of walking with the Spirit requires that we be honest about our sins, and that we take clear, concrete actions that would drive a stake through the practice of sin and mortify the flesh.

The Spirit Gives Joy

The powerful Spirit produces joy. We know this, because for the Thessalonian believers, they experienced joy, not only in favorable circumstances, but also when distressed: “having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,” (1 Thessalonians 1:6 NAS95). The joy did not appear naturally, but rather, supernaturally. From a worldly point of view, there was no cause for joy. But something else was going on in the minds and hearts of these believers. Their eyes were opened to a new estimation of things. The value of the word had become greater than present comforts. The promise of future reward more than compensated for the risk or experience of present loss. What was gained was now more precious that what was lost.

I see a lack of joy in my Christian experience. I also see it in the lives of other believers. We are not persecuted. We do not suffer greatly. We engage in our commitments, and we do our duties. We plod along, and we exhibit faithfulness; but not joyfulness.

Why is this? If I looked only at 1 Thes 1, I might conclude that all we need is a good dose of tribulation to bring out the joy. But that is not what that text is saying. It is not the tribulation that produces the joy, but the Holy Spirit. And so the question has to be asked, “What am I doing to stifle the production of joy by the Holy Spirit?” And so I have gone searching, and find some answers in the following passages in which both the concept of “joy” and “Spirit” occur together.

In Acts 13:52, the Gentiles who had just recently heard the gospel and realized that it was good news, not just for others, but also for people like them, were “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Their excitement and wonder at being accepted and included in God’s gracious plan that brings forgiveness of sins changed their view of all things, producing joy. Life could never again be the same. So much of the world around me is hell-bound. God’s electing grace should be shockingly refreshing. This can be spoiled by a sense of entitlement, as though God, for some reason, owed me a spot on the bus.

Romans 14: 17 says that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Specifically, Paul has just said that a brother for whom Christ has died is more important and more dear to him than eating or not eating. It appears that if one trades out the importance of people for personal liberties or luxuries, then he may very well forego “righteousness and peace and joy.” Joy is experienced as one lives in light of these three facts: God is working His plan; people are highly valuable; and we are preparing for and investing in a drastically better future. Again, I lose joy when the biggest plan in view is what’s for lunch, or who’s doing music, or what’s on TV.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NAS95) We see that the God of hope works in concert with the Spirit of power to produce “joy and peace in believing.” God is doing something strange and contrary to expectation. He is bringing together a people that unites old enemies. And the follower of Christ is challenged to continue in the acceptance of those who are not just like you, and who formerly may have been offensive or disgusting. You behave in this new way because you have been re-visioned, re-vised according to a new creation kind of existence, to which you are fastened by hope. And the joy that is mentioned seems to have in it a sense of adventure and a scent of anticipation. I lose the experience of joy when I focus upon the accomplishment of “old man” objectives as opposed to God’s heavenly purposes in His Son, in His church, and in His world.

In 2 Corinthians 7:13, Paul and Titus are rejoicing in the continuing faith of Corinthians Christians. Yes, life is hard – “conflicts without, fears within” (v.5) – but the fellowship, the comraderie of Christians who are on the same team and running the same race is sustaining, refreshing, and heart-lifting. As we see later in 1 Thessalonians 2:19,20, the fellowship with other believers is critical. If this “band of brothers” loses its sense of direction; if they begin to exist for no good purpose other than to endure – they will lose joy.

So, if it fits, make your own diagnosis. Why joylessness? What is at stake is more than a life lived in dullness and depression. Spiritual joy is linked also to peace and hope and love and fellowship. To be depleted in the area of joy is to be disabled in worship and witness and service.

What Power?

To what degree have we cast an image of the Spirit that is powerless, since that sits well with our own experience? We howl when we see individuals man-handle the Word and practice some form of eis-egesis (reading their viewpoints into the text) rather than ex-egesis (developing the text's conclusions from out of the text). And we are instantly critical of those who, evilly shaped by the culture around us, make God in our own image, into what we want Him to be, instead of us being re-made in His image, into what He wants us to be. But then, where is the outrage when we conceive of the Holy Spirit apart from the concept of power?

Gordon Fee shows at the end of his chapter on the use of the word "spirit" in his book, "God's Empowering Presence," that there is such a strong, explicit connection between "spirit" and "power" in so many texts, that, even when the word "spirit" is used without the word "power," we must still think about what power is being exercised; and, when the "power" is used without a direct reference to the Spirit, we would do well to think about how the Spirit is involved. The connection is that close. He does not say that every time one word or the other is used, that the author necessarily has the other in mind. He just says that there is a good chance of it.

In my mind, the Spirit is holy. He is active in our sanctification. The Spirit is the Comforter. He provides assurance and a sense of God's presence. The Spirit is a guide. He helps in discernment. He helps in our prayers. But in my experience, the Spirit is not powerful. Oh, I'm sure He can be, and that He has been at some times in some places. But not here and now. Not lately. My eyes have glossed over the strong Biblical evidences of the connection between Spirit and power that do not fit my experience. And I want my experience to conform to this Biblical portrait of God's Spirit whose activity is powerful.

I understand that the Spirit's power is different from the world's conceptions of power. While the world may base their definitions of power on military strength or economic leverage or political clout, the Spirit's power may reveal itself in an enduring faith, and in sacrificial love, and in an other-worldly hope that rejects would-be, easy-access saviors. These examples may seem benign, but even these are surprising and shocking. They are evidences that cannot be explained.

I also understand that the Spirit's power can be experienced just as much in the undertow as in the crashing wave. But in either case, it is still a power that is felt; a power that matters; a power that we must not do without.

Good, Old-Fashioned Bible Study

In reading Gordon Fee’s “God’s Empowering Presence,” the 2nd chapter is entitled “Preliminary Observations on Usage.” Someone needs to give poor Gordon some assistance on sexy chapter titles, because this one is not going to draw a crowd. It is most definitely not seeker-sensitive. It’s just good, old-fashioned Bible study.

First of all, it is careful study. Fee goes through usage by usage and analyzes both the grammar and logical issues. He charts them out and categorizes them. In so doing, he is able to refute an earlier theory that the use of the article (“the”) in the Greek text denotes a reference to the divine spirit, whereas the absence of the article suggests a reference to the human spirit. No, that doesn’t work. And he carefully shows his work.

We all need to be involved in careful Bible study. There are many aspects of such study, but one is to carefully look at the words that are used, and how the words are used. Yes, there has been a lot of attention given to the “big picture” of the Biblical narrative – some rendition of “creation, fall, redemption, consummation.” But the superstructure rests on the individual pieces of words and arguments. While it is possible to lose sight of the big picture because of an atomistic approach to the Bible, it is also possible to drift along above the text with some kind of Big Picture that does not attend to careful study.

Second, Fee challenges me about letting the Bible speak for itself. As the careful student looks at the words, he also seeks to follow the argument that is being constructed. Of course, grammar provides many of the needed clues. I have found that it is relatively easy to spend hours in studying words and making lists, but much more difficult to trace and describe an argument. And, as in the next point, I need to be very careful not to insert my argument for the author’s. Fee gives a great example of enduring Bible study that arrives at definitions and conclusions, not just data.

It is so easy to come to the text with preconceived notions about what it says before we let it speak. My 3rd note is a caution against demanding that the text answer my questions. An example of this is found in most of the treatments that I have read seeking to state the Bible’s position of divorce and remarriage. One after another of us have pressed Jesus’ statements (and Paul’s, and Moses’) to fit our questions rather than to grasp the point being made in context and letting that material work us over. I must try to listen for the questions that the author is answering. And they most likely are not the questions that I had in my mind when I started the study. I was reminded to come to the text and to listen.

How long has it been since you spent a couple of hours in good, old-fashioned Bible study? Just you and your Bible. Maybe a concordance, but no commentaries or study notes. Just you and your Bible, wrestling with words and arguments, and you asking God what it is He has to say to you today?

Have We Settled?

“my concern is that in our having his Spirit, we not settle for a watered down understanding that gives more glory to Western rationalism and spiritual anemia than to the living God” (Introduction, p.9) God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul, by Gordon D. Fee. Hendrickson, 1994.

Fee, writing with a sincere concern for the church and with an intense interest in an experience of the life of God as mediated or communicated by the Spirit, confesses for many of us that the working out of our faith is heavy on theological description and low on spiritual experience. If that is the case, it seems that we would be skilled in discerning the right and the wrong, but clumsy in areas of wisdom and gifting and community and witness and prayer. In personal terms, it seems that we would be better in our answers and in detecting errors than in progressing in holiness. In terms of witness, we would be left to rely on argument in our efforts to convince the lost rather than presenting a compelling, living lifestyle that reflects the sweet reality of heaven’s values.

So, have we settled? Have we settled for a kind of Christianity that is dry and unfruitful? Are we more comfortable with a faith that is predictable, though lacking power in its expression? Do we settle for church life that is lacking in love, and weak in obedience?

Let me back off for a moment. Yes, the church with which I am familiar is Western, and rationalistic, and predictable. But there are still many wonderful examples of love and sacrifice and obedience and blessing. But, …

I do not believe that God wants His children, any of us, to settle for less than what He has provided. I am excited about following Fee’s lead through Paul’s epistles as he exegetes and examines what God has said about His empowering presence.

Two Atrocities: A Head with Multiple Bodies; or, A Body with Multiple Heads

Maybe “atrocity” is too strong a word. But “anomaly” is too weak. And “curiosity” is just sick. And we aren’t talking about something that you might have seen in the old, circus “freak” shows. No, we are talking about seems to happen often in the evangelical church.

A Head with Multiple Bodies

Christ only has one body. We just seem a little confused about who it is. So there are many (and by many, I mean a whole lot) who claim to be that body, and who are pretty sure of all the ones who are not. I’m pretty sure that Christ knows who makes up His body. But in the meantime, in our separations and isolations, we are left either to envision a Head with only our little remnant, which would be a really small, puny body; or to envision an atrocity: Christ with many bodies.

Ephesians 2:14 says “He is our peace.” Verse 15 says that He has made “the both one.” There are not two peoples of God. There is one. There are not two ways to God. It is Jesus. And if we take this theme and run with it, we can safely say that Christ our Head does not have multiple bodies.

If He did, can you imagine what would happen? Several would claim to have direction from their Head, even though each body is clearly not going in the same direction. And it seems, then, as though the Head would almost be forced to favor one body over the others. “Will the real body please stand up?” And the others are left, what, just to dangle?

If Christ our Head had many bodies, then language such as “beloved” (for instance, in Psalm 127:2; Ephesians 5:1) becomes trite. It would be like the young chaser buying Valentine cards for all his girls that say, “I love you will all of my heart.” A shepherd with multiple flocks must necessarily be absent at times. A Good Shepherd may have many, many sheep. But He has only one flock.

A Body with Multiple Heads

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24 NAS95S). In other words, it’s just not going to work. The masters are going to fight. The servant is going to take sides.

But the Body on earth tends to conduct itself as though the Head in heaven is far away (see Ephesians 1:20-23 for the concept of the “Head in heaven”). Therefore, it must adopt other direction for its practical and daily existence. Maybe it is worldly wisdom. Maybe it is church tradition. But the church in the world often replaces heavenly direction with earthly direction, and, in essence, seeks to operate with multiple heads.

But our Head is not far away. Heaven has invaded earth in the coming of the Son, and He has conquered the distance and the divide so that we can have constant fellowship and direction from Him, through His Spirit and Word. So when we opt for substitute headship, we operate according to the flesh, not according to faith. And that produces an atrocity.

We need less meetings and more prayer. We need less talking and more paying attention. We need to be a little less like the adolescent, who, when spoken to, cannot possibly hear, because he is entombed in headphones and distraction. He is, for all practical purposes, dead to the Head.

A local body of believers (see Ephesians 4:15-16 for the Head in relation to individuals in local community) has many heads when they are all going a dozen directions, fed with many varieties of spiritual diet. Let’s say one group is more passionate about the election (or, non-election) of some politician than they have ever been about King Jesus. And let’s say another group is really, really focused on the family. And let’s say another group is all about feeding the hungry. And another comes to church out of loyalty, but they feel much more fed when they listen to Joel Osteen. Wouldn’t this be a body with multiple heads?

Paul one more time uses the “Head” theme in Ephesians 5, when he applies the beauty of the new creation and spiritual living to husbands and wives. They are to live in love and submission with/to one another, even as the local body is to practice love and submission in relation to one another, under the banner of the Love of Christ for His church and submission to Christ has her Lord.

Every time I substitute willfullness and selfishness for submission and love, I am guilty of sin: of separating from Christ, my Head, to follow the impulse of some other Authority. This should never be considered normal. It is an atrocity.

In the Presence of My Enemies

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;” (Psalms 23:5 NAS95S)

This just doesn’t happen. When you are surrounded by enemies, you do not spread the tablecloth, unfold the napkin, and take a sip of wine. You don’t take a deep breath, clear your mind, and share a joke with your friends.

No, when you are surrounded by enemies, you are on the run. If you eat at all, it’s some hunk of old, half-a-biscuit, that, as you run, are careful not to leave crumbs behind, lest the enemy be able to track you down. There are no refinements; no pleasantries. It’s wilderness and caves and sweat and fear.

The New Testament theology that informs the Old Testament text is this: Christ has defeated the enemy by his resurrection from the dead, and is thus able to provide for his followers safe refuge. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14) who has given his life for the sheep, and whose work ensures that “no man is able to pluck them from my Father’s hand” (John 10:29).

The theology is sound and assuring. Our practical application is often flawed.

Because God-in-Christ provides us with such security and pleasure, we often begin to draw the conclusion that we really have no surrounding enemies. If the table is so rich, and the fellowship so fine, then we forget the larger context that we live in this world as pilgrims and strangers, even aliens, and that our many enemies, sometimes categorized under the rubric of “the world, the flesh, and the devil,” are still present, and potent, and prowling about.

Of course, we can err in more than one direction. If we have the tendency to explore the ditch on one side of the path, then surely we are capable of excavating the ditch on the other side as well. And so, not only can we forget “the presence of our enemies” and live as though they do not exist, but we can also, in the rush and tumble of life, forget the table, its fare, and its fellowship. Whether it is our nose to the grindstone, or our feet to the fire, we are hurried and pressed, and we forego the restful intimacies that our Savior requests, even commands.

As sheep, we just take what is given to us. If a meal is provided, we eat. And if the shepherd presides over us for our protection, we accept it. But as intelligent people, we forget and neglect. And so, intelligent men and women, consider this prayer for today: “Lord, let me be a lamb today.”

Daily Prayer

“Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;”
(Psalms 144:1 ESV)

Father,
It is difficult for me to think that Your Son needed training. But then, "he learned obedience" according to Hebrews 5. Those infant hands and fingers had to learn to write, and to work with wood, and to touch lepers, and receive nails. And they will one day lead in final battle.

It is not difficult for me to think that we need training. We need to be trained to think Your thoughts after You. We need to be trained to pray. We need to be trained to practice boldness with grace, and humility without reserve. We need to practice patience, and patiently receive correction, over and over again. Train us well. Drill us. Mold us.

Father, I pray that you would put an end to our training in things that are unprofitable. We all devote our minds and hearts and hands and fingers to things that don't matter, or worse, that do damage. We practice these things. We are being trained negatively, even demonically. Put an end to such training that will bring difficulty and defeat, and replace it with divine training fit for sons of heaven. Amen

Daily Prayer

“and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.” (John 10:12 ESV)

Father,
I pray that we will have a greater, deeper, more powerful relationship with the Shepherd than with the wolf. We know what the wolf can do to a person. He can bring great damage, and put great distance, at least in terms of fellowship, between the sheep and his Shepherd. I pray that you would protect each one from being snatched by the grip of one more powerful than himself, and so I pray that you would help each to see his spiritual weakness, and to stay close to the Shepherd. And I pray that they would not be scattered - separated from closest relationships with other believers; separated from ministry involvements; separated from spiritual power.

I pray that you would cause each one to love the Shepherd and hate the wolf - to fly to the Shepherd and run from the wolf.

We are told that men are supposed to be strong. Father, we are not. But your Son is. May we find our safety the remainder of this day in Him. Amen

“sons of men” and the Son of Man

We were born into this world as sons of men. Created by God from the dust of the earth, the first man had a close affinity to the created order. We are a part of this world. We breathe its air and drink its water and find ourselves at home here.

But we were also created with an affinity for the Creator. God Himself breathed into Adam the “breath of life.” He and Eve are “image of God” in a way that distinguishes them from all the rest of the created order.

When Eve and Adam sinned, they placed their relationship with the created order over their relationship with the Creator. They opted for the fruit and the flesh rather than the life of the soul that lives with/from God. And ever since, sons of men naturally live according to the flesh.

“Flesh” in the Bible is characterized by brevity. It withers like the grass and fades like the flower. It lives for the moment, and disregards eternal concerns. That is how the sons of men look at life. That is how they behave.

Think, then, of how the sons of men speak – the nature of their words. Our words are worth little because they are designed to carry the moment at the expense of the eternal. The sons of men do not speak easily in terms of timeless truths, but rather in bytes intended to make an impression, leverage a response, and manipulate the situation for our advantage or comfort.

How different then, is the Son of Man. He steps into this world, like the sons of men, with an affinity to the created order. He was, after all, “born of a woman.” He was part of a culture, speaking their language, and practicing their customs. But, unlike the sons of men, his primary relationship was not with the created order via the flesh, but with the Creator, via the Spirit.

He words show his distinction from the sons of men. He dares to forgive sins, something the sons of men find strange, even offensive. He claims to be Lord of the Sabbath, whereas the calendar and the week rules us. He stands above, as Lord of the created order, whereas we, as sons of men, are captivated by it.

The Son of Man came to deliver the sons of men from their bondage, to restore a proper priority of relationship with God. And the Son of Man will come again, with great power and glory, to speak in judgment with decisiveness and clarity, in perfect righteousness. sons of men can not fathom that kind of clarity from the morass of doubt and relativism in which they operate.

And so, those who call themselves Christians have an important question to answer: will I follow the sons of men, or the Son of Man? We will do one or the other. The two paths do not run the same direction.

Genesys, and Exodys

Genesys is the name of a health care facility in our area. Cute. But I think they oversell themselves a bit. I am truly thankful for medical science, and for recent breakthroughs and improvements, and I hope for more. I appreciate that hospitals are now competing for customers, and that they are trying hard to put their best foot forward.

But their theology is lacking. And the marketing department is running the show. Don’t worry. They are not alone. It is happening at businesses, and schools, and in churches.

“Genesis” means “beginnings.” The book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament of the Bible, starts with the words, “In the beginning, …” It is a book about the beginnings of the created order, spoken into existence by the Word of God. It follows with the story of the beginning of the human race, with God Himself personally and intimately involved in the formation of both male and female. Genesis goes on and tells the story of the beginning of a people through a childless couple, and the beginning of covenant promise and commitment.

I wonder, are there any of these senses in which Genesys thought it was appropriate to co-opt the word, “Genesis?”

Genesis also includes less cheery beginnings. It records graphically the first sin, both silly and stupid. It chronicles the rapid rise of sin into evil, and God’s response in the ‘whelming flood. The book of Genesis also does not whitewash the close-to-home evils of betrayal and envy and bitterness and lies.

I hardly think Genesys wants that kind of association.

And I wonder, is the backside of the hospital call Exodys. If you enter the front door with hopes and promises of all that can be done, what happens when all that can be done isn’t enough? What happens when the cancer wins; when the bleeding can’t be stopped, and when the treatment for one ailment kills you with another?

“Exodus” means “departure.” So, in a sense, Exodys might be a better name than Genesys. Everybody wants just to get out of there and go home. But we all know that there is a more serious departure about which we seldom think, and which does not fit into anyone’s marketing plan.

We are all going to die. We will all make an exit, timely or untimely. The exodus will happen whether we think we are ready or not. Maybe the hospital won’t tell us about the inevitability of death, but someone should. And if we are going to be ready to die, then we need a new beginning, another genesis.

If you want a good Exodus, you need a new Genesis – to be part of a new creation; a member of a new humanity; birthed into a new family; welcomed into covenant community. You need a cure, not for cancer, but for sin, whether sin that is attached to the cosmos, or to the human race, or to you personally.

Genesis and Exodus. They belong together. They should be attended separately.

Red Sea Rescue

There are numerous applications to God’s saving rescue in the church’s life and the Christian’s life from the account of the Red Sea Rescue of Israel in Exodus 14.

After the plagued power-struggle between God (Moses) and Pharoah, Israel has finally been released to go worship God in the wilderness. But the Egyptians have a change of mind.

“What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

We forget how the devil desires to rule over us. He enjoys, in a diabolical sort of way, our service to him. And we fail to realize that, apart from Christ, we are always serving the devil. There are only two to serve: Christ, or the devil. And if we are not serving the One, then we are serving the other. So even homes that seem moral and orderly are, unwittingly, serving the devil’s interests, though I do not doubt that, somehow, they also serve God’s general interests in society and culture. The dentist who does not serve Christ serves the devil. He may do fine (painless) work, and he may truly help people in the here-and-now and be a benefit to his community, but the devil has him right where he wants him. He is not serving Christ.

When Israel realizes their predicament, that they are pinned in no-man’s-land between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea, they complain. “Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’”

And so we say to the preacher, “Mind your own business.” And so we say to God’s Word, “This doesn’t apply to me.” And so we say to the Holy Spirit, “Just this once, and I will ask forgiveness.” And so we say to Christ, “I do not account your death on the cross as being of equal value with my personal comfort and happiness.” And so we say to God, “Leave me alone!” Today, we want to serve ourselves, not realizing that, in doing so, we are serving the devil. At least the Israelites better understood their options.

Moses takes the matter to God, and since God already know what He will do (in fact, He already told Moses what He would do), He says, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.”

Just go forward. We think the path is obstructed. But just go forward. We fear our feet getting wet. But just go forward. We fear appearing foolish and stupid. But just go forward. I wonder how often I have lived, stopped in my tracks, waiting for God to move my feet for me, when, what He has promised is to create a path. Just go forward.

The people proceed on dry land through the Red Sea. Walls of water on the right and the left. Drowning Egyptian soldiers behind. Moses and God up ahead. “So the people feared the Lord, and the believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

Perhaps the greatest rescue that God accomplishes is not in the defeat of the enemy and the creation of a path through the sea, but in the conversion of hard hearts. These stubborn people actually came to fear the Lord and to believe. What a miracle! No, I do not want to discount the other aspects of this deliverance. What power, shown in the most God-glorifying of ways!

We need a Red Sea Rescue today. The Church, and individual Christians, need protection from Satan’s molesting designs. We need deliverance from the sickening attitude that we are better off settling for the temporary security that the enemy provides. We need a push in the back and a kick in the butt to push forward. We need true fear of the Lord, and real faith in a rescuing God and in his servant Jesus.

May today be a “go forward” day.

The Thought of God

Reflections on “The Thought of God,” by Maurice Roberts. Banner of Truth, 1993. The book takes its title from the first article.

Often times at a funeral home, we will hear the explanation, perhaps to a grandchild, “Grandma is not here. She is gone to heaven. Only her body has been left behind.” Regardless of the sophistication, or lack thereof, of the truth prounounced, it reminds me of the point made powerfully in this reading, “The Thought of God.” When facing trouble, the Christian is really not completely here. He is, or, his attention is, directed to heaven. The problematic visibility does not describe the spiritual reality.

Roberts at one point calls it “intuitive,” at another, “instinctive.” Some men in our church have spoken of it as “our first reflex.” It is what Christians do. They turn to God. Their minds run to God. The are governed by “the thought of God.” In short, Christians pray.

Roberts uses a turn of phrase to communicate a beautiful truth: “godly men are not more ready to raise their minds to God in trouble than he is to hear and help them” (p.4). And this confidence is what makes turning to God an activity in which we can invest significant time and energy. God hears our prayers.


The other quote I choose is from pp. 6,7: “ Panic is the sinful failure to apply our knowledge of God to particular problems.” Could theology be any more practical than this? Does this not apply to issues weighing the mind even today? And, has “the Thought of God” ruled your heart and carried the day?

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 ESV)

So Teach Us to Number our Days

I’ve often heard, and probably said it myself, that we should live each day as though it were our last. Perhaps this would be a word of admonition in line with Ps 90:12
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
But I’m not sure it gets it quite right.

Yes, it is true that we do not know how many days we have here on earth. This may be our last. And certainly, if it were our last, then there are certain things that I would want to say to certain people.

But the other side of this truth is – we may have a great many days left on this earth. And if that is the case, then we should not live each day as though it were our last. If we did, we would only do those things which are most urgent. We would not plan. We would not strategize. We would begin no large projects. We would stretch for no large aspirations.

And so it seems that we have a two-sided lesson here. Our times are in God’s hands. We must be very careful not to leave unfinished business, especially in the sense of unforsaken and unconfessed sin, or in failing to offer forgiveness or seek reconciliation in bruised and broken relationships.

But we must also dare to begin endeavors which may take decades to complete. We must begin friendships that may not mature for years. We must invest in worthy projects much like a farmer would plant seed in the Spring. Do we have a guarantee that we will enjoy the harvest on this earth? No, but there is harvest in heaven even for projects only begun.

Garbage Day

It may seem silly, but I love garbage day. Just think, you carry your junk to the street, and then it’s gone. The bags are gone. The garage is clean. The trash cans are empty. This has got to be one of the greatest achievements of modern civilization.

If you doubt me, answer this: What would you do with all your trash if no one took it away? Would you burn it? The smoke from everyone’s trash would cover the town. Would you bury it? Frankly, I’m afraid I come up with more trash that I have room to dig. You could shove it down the basement stairs, but that seems short-sighted.

What I really love about garbage day is that it reminds me of forgiveness. “If we confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

This verse doesn’t explain the mechanics of atonement. It just states it as a fact. Forgiveness is possible, and forgiveness is possible. When I address my sin – recognizing my sin as sin, and name it for what it is – then forgiveness is promised. It’s a little like taking garbage to the street. In essence, you are admitting to the public – “I have garbage. Here it is.” And then it’s gone.

Sure, there are questions that need to be answered: What about unconfessed sin? How does God forgive sin and maintain His justice? Doesn’t this arrangement just encourage us to sin all the more? What about the consequences of sin? Are they taken away as well? And there are important answers to those questions.

But it doesn’t take away the delight of garbage day, and the joy of forgiveness day, which, when lived in the light, in fellowship with Jesus, is everyday.

Forty Days in the Wilderness

Jesus is enjoying the wilderness, not because he’s an outdoors guy, but because he is full of the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit (Lk 4:1,2). The truth is, Jesus would be happy anywhere, full of the Spirit, walking in the pleasure of God. The environment and the hunger are real, but not so real as the reality of God.

The devil shows up in the wilderness. They size one another up. Their minds are worlds apart.

The devil must be puzzled by Jesus. Could this really be the Son of God? Sure, Satan was cast out of heaven for treason against the Most High. So what must the Son of God have done, to be cast as a human, bound by disgusting flesh? At least the devil was still an angel, but here is this Jesus, obviously lower than even angels.

If Jesus were only pretending to be the Son of God, then he would be extremely useful to the alMost High. Satan can always use pretenders, capitalizing on their pride.

But if Jesus is indeed the Son of God, then he must be destroyed. And it shouldn’t be hard, should it, since the devil had already proven that mere men were easily tempted and quickly turned.

Just a little shell game would do the trick. A little catering to the animal impulses. A little show and tell. The offering of a shortcut. The spectacle of a miracle. A seemingly noble way to put God in the service of man, as opposed to man in the service of God. This should be easy.

Jesus looks at the devil. Jesus has been training his mind and heart, his body and will, his emotions and spirit, to be satisfied with God, and with God alone. Whatever appearance the devil has, it finds no appeal in Jesus. His eyes are for God alone. His heart is for God alone. God alone. God alone. For thirty years, and for forty days, this has been his pattern and his life. God alone.

Jesus hears the devil, and knows Satan’s own self-deception, even as he attempts to begin his deceiving work. He observes the devil’s manipulation of the playing field, the re-framing of the rules, the altering of expectations, the reduction of all things important to this single moment in time. And Jesus knows.

He knows because he created this angel of light, now become the prince of darkness. He created his gifts and his abilities. The devil’s aptness for leadership did not arise from the abyss, and the span of his creativity did not evolve. It was given by God, through the handiwork of the Son.

When the devil spoke, he spoke through instruments designed by Jesus himself – instruments that were intended to sing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.” He created a will that was to bend and bow in constant subservience to the will of God Almighty. And he created an angel with the ability to assist in bringing a redeemed humanity to “the praise of His glory.”

So perhaps Jesus views the devil with sadness. Perhaps with the kind of righteous anger that one feels when one’s Father’s name has been disdained. But certainly Jesus knows that He will defeat this devil.

Alternative Energy

Christians are called “children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Jesus says “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). John says that this “light was the light of men” (John 1:4). And in all these references, we can contrast the light with darkness. But I want to think of an association of light. Light produces heat. But not just heat. It is energy.

And so Christians operate with an alternative energy. Our energy comes “from above.” Other energies are operative in the world, but they are worldly. They come from below. The energies from below produce pollutions, like malice and envy; like selfishiness and abuse of others. But the energy from above produces things like joy and peace, and love.

The energies from below are part of a “death grid.” They depend on death. And they produce death. The energy from above is in complete contrast. It is a “life grid.” It begins with resurrected life (Romans 1:4), and begets eternal life (Romans 6:23), which is a whole different kind of life than one ever finds in the culture of death.

There is so much talk these days about alternative energy. My illustration makes me sound like a raging liberal. Coal and oil are bad. Sun and wind are good. And I’m not sure that is an appropriate conclusion to draw. It seems that in God’s design for this earth, coal and oil were provided as gifts. I suppose a person could argue that coal and oil are produced in the death and decay of organic materials, and so belong to the “death grid.” But that is another discussion. Let’s not make the illustration the lesson.

The lesson is this: Christians operate on a different plane because they are energized by a different Spirit (I think there is good evidence for a Biblical connection with Spirit as the breath of God, and energy or energizing.) And when I sink to operate according to the spirit of the age, according to the “elemental things” (Galatians 4:3) then, no wonder, I lose the grand experience of joy and peace and love, and I trade off for frustration, disillusionment, and a preoccupation with my own self.

Christian, look up. Feel the warmth of Jesus on your face and in your heart. Praise God for the wind of His Spirit, whether in reminding you of Biblical truth, or conviction of sin, or of a return to thankfulness and grace.

“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:13-18 NAS95S)

Journey

Thinking through Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be), by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Moody, 2008

In the chapter, “Journey: Are the Pilgrims still making Progress?” the authors discuss the tension between the journey itself, and the destination. They quote a sentiment which is widely accepted, and perhaps especially in the emergent church that “The destination matters little. The journey is the thing” (p.32)

Here’s where it’s fun to blog through a book, not critiquing the book necessarily, but looking for application for oneself. I’m going to talk about a direction that the chapter doesn’t really go. The authors go the direction of “certainty/uncertainty,” and even get around to discussing the emergent handling of homosexuality. I’d rather talk about heaven.

The pendulum still swings, though it is hard to tell when it has reached bottom (to borrow a market term). When I was growing up, we were all going to heaven. Now, we are living the Christian life. When I was growing up, people were living the Christian life on their way to heaven. Now, we are living the Christian life, and heaven will happen eventually. See the difference?

My pastor used to refer to people who were “so heavenly minded they were no earthly good.” I’m not sure I know anyone like that these days. We may now be so earthly minded, we are no heavenly good. And the trends in the American church are further toward friendship with the world, and enmity toward God (James 4).

This is not an us vs. them problem. This is a virus the emergent church caught from the evangelicals, and now the tumors are breaking through the surface. All of us need to catch a hunger for heaven that begins to break the attachments we have to this world.

Let me take a breath and clarify. When I say “heaven,” I don’t mean an escape from God’s creation into something else. No, I understand 2 Peter 3, where he speaks of “waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2Peter 3:13 ESV) I know that God’s creation is good, and that it awaits final redemption, though it will be dragged through the purging wringer in order to ready it for that day. Also, I am not advocating isolationism. We must break with the world even as we love sinners and sacrifice and suffer for them.

Our problem is our attachment to this world, and the current state of things – to its comforts; its prosperities; its entertainments; its coolness; its congratulations. We seem not to believe the following biblical phrases: “the present form of this world is passing away.” (1Corinthians 7:31 ESV); “And the world is passing away along with its desires,” (1John 2:17 ESV). Our journey seems to have lost its destination, and we think we can settle here, comfortably.

I want to affirm the importance of the journey. God uses the journey to prepare us for the destination. Each test; each gift; each trial is used by God to wean us from the world and make us thirsty for Christ. But somehow, we seem to be missing the lessons.

And I also want to affirm the importance of the destination. So let me go back to those intriguing words from 2 Peter: “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2Peter 3:11-12 ESV).

The American church is way out of balance, and we are veering away from center.

Reading List from 2008

Here are books that I read in 2008, along with a few random notes.

I started the year with a book edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World.

I ended the year (today) with The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. What a challenging book, all the way to the end, like his life.

Graham Cole, He Who Gives Life: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Books by D.A. Carson - Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, The Gagging of God (2nd time reading through this 900 pager, Christ and Culture,

The Bruised Reed, by Richard Sibbes. Someone related to Southern Serminary put together a book-of-the-month list for old Puritans. I read most of what he recommended (a couple I had read before). Thomas Boston, Repentance. Flavel, The Mystery of Providence. Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture. Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices. Bunyan, Come and Welcome to Jesus. Owen, Mortification of Sin. Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (I think my favorite of the whole Puritan collection). William Guthrie, The Christian’s Great Interest. Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

St. Augustine, City of God. I had read this years ago. To think that what he said then is still important now.

Greg Beale, Temple of God (Biblical Theology). I love the books in this series.

Paul Tripp, A Quest for More. A helpful book that I’ve recommended to many, and which I gave to my wife for Christmas. Actually, I gave her my copy for Christmas. I also read Tripp’s How People Change, and Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands

N.T. Wright, The Resurrection fo the Son of God. I finally finished this third volume of his series. Though I don’t follow everything, the guy is brilliant.

Rasenberger, America: 1908. A fascinating look at America 100 years ago.

Erickson and Taylor, eds. Reclaiming the Center

Feiler, Abraham. This guy shows Abraham in relation to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. And I’m not sure he understands any of them.

Guiness, The Call. I’ve read this twice, and still feel like I’m missing the point. It makes me feel thick.

Kistler, ed. Feed my Sheep, a book on preaching. Great chapters.

Harris, Slaves of Christ. This will deal with that triumphal streak in you. Very biblical, and a needed emphasis.

Packer, Dever. In My Place Condemned He Stood. Dense argumentation, but rich.

Paul Stiles, Is the American Dream Killing You? How the Marken Rules our Lives. I read this in the first half of the year. If I had waited to the second half, I probably would have wanted it to say, “how the market ruins our lives.” But it doesn’t, does it? It can’t. It doesn’t have that kind of power.

Mike Fabarez. Preaching that Changes Lives, borrowed from a friend at church. I wonder, now why was he so willing to share this with me?

Alex and Brett Harris, Do Hard Things. I have some blog entries running with a few threads from this book.

Henry Cloud, Integrity. This guy goes deep with the concept. I think he might be “Christian”, based on how he approaches or explains different concepts. But his failure to point to Christ anywhere in the book seems like, well, a lack of integrity.

DeYoung and Kluck. Why We’re Not Emergent. I’m currently blogging through this book, though not very energetically.

Newton, Elders in Congregational Life. A very good, brief treatment of the subject by a Baptist pastor. I liked his careful treatment of Acts 20; Hebrews 13, and 1 Peter 5.

Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spirit Discernment.

Ronny Russel, Can a Church Live Again? This SBC pastor is a “can-do” sort of fellow, and helps give hope and direction to moribund churches. It is not biblical, in that sense that he draws more from experience than from biblical teaching.

Machen, The Gospel in the Modern World. Of all the postmodern stuff out there, this book seemed pretty relevant. The labels change, but the truth stays the same.

Roy Hesson, We Would See Jesus. This old guy just takes the “I Am’s” literally, and helps me to see Jesus.

Timmis and Chester, Total Church. This is fresh, and does not bash traditional church, though what they are doing is anything but. Helpful insights.

Neal Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death. I felt like I should have read this book years ago, but finally got to it this year, and its still relevant.

J. Hudson Taylor. Union and Communion with Christ: Thoughts on Song of Solomon. This was one of my favorites of the year. I know that the pendulum has swung in S of S studies, from Christological, to some kind of marriage manual. But I think I liked the pendulum back the other way.

Bowman and Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case fot he Deity of Christ. This book was full of Biblical argument, but I found it very warm and encouraging for myself, as it caused the Person of Jesus to grow before my eyes.

Friendship with God

My buddy Jim spoke at our worship gathering last Sunday. Here are some reflections on his treatment of “friendship with God.”

His text was John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

One thing I liked was how Jim regularly “confused” the phrases “friendship with God” and “friendship with Christ,” as though they were one and the same. And I agree. We cannot have one without the other.

Another point that got me thinking was on the conditional nature of this friendship/relationship. Jim made the point that other relationships that we have with God are not conditional – they just are. But this friendship with God is more responsive on our part. We enter into friendship as we obey. I am wary of a treatment that creates two classes of Christians: those who believe; and those who believe and obey. There have been many versions of this “staged” sanctification in church history, and I believe that all have been shown as flawed.

So is it possible that a true believer refrains from friendship with God? My theological framework argues against it, but I am glad for Jim’s message, and how it makes me wrestle with the issue.

I appreciated the point that Jim made, purposefully, that God is our friend, and that Christ has initiated friendship, even when we seem to withhold it. Our friendship with Him is grounded in His reaching out to us.

This is a subject that demands to be applied. Do I respond in frienship to the Lord? Do I love him? Am I in love with an idea, or with a book, but not with the Person? If so, I am afraid that my greatest danger is not a deficiency in my faith, but an absence of faith altogether.

Jim is a visual guy. It just wouldn’t be the same listening to a recording. And Jim speaks visually. He strives for word pictures, some of which land him in hot water. I’m still struggling with a contemporary greeting of Jesus that includes the words “how’s it hangin’?”

Thank you, Jim, for your ministry. And thank you, Lord, for giving us this verse of Scripture, and an entrance into this level of intimacy with the living God.

Experience

Thinking through Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be), by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Moody, 2008

In the Second Introduction, and especially on pp. 27,28, the “ordinary” author refers to “experience” in a few different ways. He seems to be poking fun at the “emergent” quest for creating the optimal “experience” for Christians. This is very much a seeker-sensitive quest as well. It is just that the emergents are tending toward an experience that is less glitzy and production-oriented, and more mystical. But, my goal is not to critique the book, or even the emergents. It is to critique myself and our own church(es). We also have a worship experience.

Jonathan Edwards and others in his age talked about “experimental religion.” He was certainly not talking about a pragmatic approach to church where we keep throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, trying to find what works to make people happy and get more people to come. He was talking about the actual application of spiritual truth to life. I think when he says “experimental,” we would say “practical.” So let me combine these thoughts. What we deeply need is “experimental experience.” That is, the transforming truth incarnated by believers, who are not much like the people they used to be.

But that is not what either “experimental” or “experience” mean in our present situation. We experiment with formats and programs and approaches, trying to create the experience that will prove to be satisfying and rewarding. But here is the point – the experiment is God’s experiment, and we are the lab rats. It is not up to us to combine the chemicals. That is God’s job. The explosive results are not designed by the leadership team, but are to be seen in our lives. And the experience is not really about how we feel, or what we enjoy. The experience is a family of confessing believers who are in the process of being truly transformed, being brought into fellowship with God and with one another in ways that are not always pleasant or pleasurable. The point is not, how do I feel in the car on the way home from church, but, was God glorified?

So where, and how, is God glorified? In the worship of His people. But what does this mean? It involves Scripture, but the presence of a Bible in the lap of every attendee does not, in itself, glorify God. It involves music, but, whether hymn or chorus, piano or guitar, glorifying God can be present or absent with either. It certainly involves people, but a collection of bodies does not make a temple for God’s Spirit, and there can be more glorification taking place with four spiritual old ladies then with four hundred emotionally charged young adults.

Do we truly love God? Is that love exhibited in a sincere hearing of His Word? Does the hearing of His Word result in concrete obedience, in both attitude and action? Is the hold of the world, the flesh, and the devil on our lives being progressively weakened and crucified? Is the name of Christ regularly on our lips, both in private and public? Do our families see the change?

If so, God is being glorified. And His experiment is working out in our experience. And if not, then we ought to try something different.

Gravitational Pull: An Illustratration of Being Converted to True Center

We all have a point of view. We look out at our world in every direction, and from that location, we are the center. Point of view defines what we mean by “here” and “there.” It is implied in our prepositions, such as “away from” – me, and “toward” – me.

Point of view rules in our relationships. We think of people in terms of how they relate to “me.” He is “my brother,” or “my neighbor.” We come to see people as friends or enemies, depending on how they treat us. We categorize them according to what we ourselves have experienced from them, for instance, “that boy is really mean,” meaning, of course, that that boy is really mean to me.

And so the contruct of our universe places ourselves at the center; we are, indeed, self-centered. And I would like for you to imagine that your universe has a gravitational pull, toward the center, toward yourself. Even the divine is evaluated and defined in terms of your gravitational pull. When we believe, we pull him in; and when we want to be left alone, we shut him out.

But when a person comes to Christ; when the reality and significance of Christ dawns upon him or her (cf. John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1), the Bible describes something that happens in one’s own human, personal experience. He/she experiences conversion, including repentance and faith: a turning from a set of viewpoints and beliefs and behaviors, and a turning toward a Person, Jesus Christ.

This person realizes that he/she is not the center, but Christ is, and that gravitational pull is found, not in me, but in Him. And so we stop praying to ourselves (“do better, do better, do better”). We stop depending upon ourselves (“try harder, try harder, try harder”). We stop doing things merely for ourselves (“I want, I want, I want”). This is conversion.

But then, those who are Christians may be willing to admit, there seems to be a problem in our everyday experience: partial conversion. We worship Christ, but we continue to throw (quite) a few honor-offerings our own way as well. We religously differentiate mankind as either saved or lost, but we still really evaluate people on how they react to us. There seems to be at least as much gravitational pull toward ourselves as there is toward the True Center.

This can’t be good. It is inconsistent. It introduces tremendous dissonance into our lives, between what we say we believe, and how we actually behave. I think this has been called, “hypocrisy,” two-faced, but in terms of gravitational pull, two-poled.

Are you half-converted? Yes, if you are a believer in Christ, both a saint, but still a sinner. A half-believer? No, not in your religious confessions, but yes, in your practical behaviors. And we pray for a full conversion; for a mature faith; for a relief from the tension between Him and me.

We don’t convert ourselves. But we seek a more complete conversion. Having already trusted in the redeeming work of Christ, we seek to open our hearts to the conviction of the Spirit of God, who will lead us into greater, ongoing repentance; and we invite the promising Spirit to grow our faith, to expand our appreciation of Christ, and to blow out the false limits of and contradictions to our honor of Him. We humbly ask God that we might experience a more complete conversion of comprehension: “to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth” (Ephesians 3:18 ESV) of His gravitational pull.

On Your Shoulder, or Back?

Is God on your Shoulder?
- or - do you feel like
God is on your Back?

What a difference of perspective! And yet I am afraid that there are many people who feel like God is constantly on their back, and that it is the job of the church to make sure he stays there. It may very well be why some people avoid church. They don’t want to be reminded how they don’t measure up to God’s high and holy standards.

But there is something missing here, since none of us measure up - correct? Why is it that some people find comfort in God, even though they are not perfect, and other’s feel threatened? It comes down to a certain faith-attitude toward God. When a person truly trusts God, then he/she will have a sense of “God on one’s shoulder.” He is there to provide and to protect; to lead in the right path and the guide our very steps. But when one is not willing to trust God, then he/she will have the sense of running from God, always listening for his advancing footsteps.

Perhaps the big dog illustrations will help. The large gentle creature is as gentle as can be so long as you face him and pet him and enjoy his company. But as soon as you begin to run away, the gentle giant barks and begins his pursuit. Same dog; different posture on the part of the person.

Biblically, we find the invitation to draw near to God. As we do so, we are in a position to enjoy all that God will do for us as a gracious and giving God. But the Bible also uses the phrase in that God will draw near, and in that context, He comes in judgment.

So are you pursuing God, and finding the God on your shoulder to be a source of blessing, or is God pursuing you, and you are running so that you can keep your life to yourself?
SJS, 9/02

Talkers

Thinking through Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be), by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Moody, 2008

In the Introduction, p.17, the authors refer to a lot of those in the emergent world as “talkers.” I’d like to work on that theme for a little while.

The emergent preoccupation with “conversation” is, in some ways, a reaction to ways in which conservative evangelicals talk past one another. We tend to state our point of view without listening carefully to either the questions, or to other points of view.

Call it conversation if you want, but I’m not sure that emergent leaders are much better at listening than are their more conservative counterparts. But, in the current environment, to question the conversation is rude, like ending a phone conversation when it was not you who called. So on it goes, and we find that there is much talking, but little is said. The booksellers are making a bundle, but few of the books are worth re-reading, or keeping.

I struggle to find a Biblical basis for this “conversation.” I’m much more comfortable and confident when a speaker says, “Thus says the Lord.” When God said, “Let there be light,” there was not a conversation. And when God said, “Thou shalt not,” again, He wasn’t asking, “what do you think?” God’s speech is to be met with confession, agreement, and obedience. Why all the conversation?

I understand that there can be fruitful interaction in discussing how to apply principles and graces in the grayness of this world. So I do find that conversation is helpful in this regard. But not in trying to reframe the Biblical material in some way that warps historical theology and redefines classic doctrine. In that case, conversation becomes perversity.

So there must be a difference between prophetic proclamation, and applicational conversation. There must be a difference between humble and ready response to the Word, and the sharing of creatively comfortable points of view that divorce the text from the author’s intent. We cannot be just “talkers.”

I cam across a fascinating passage in Ezekiel about prophetic speech, and the people’s contemporary (then, and now) response.

““As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”” (Ezekiel 33:30-33 ESV)

So I agree with the authors, that much of emergent-ville amounts to swarms of words. And incessant talking only serves to further cheapen words, and lead poor listeners to be even poorer.

But as I said in the first post in this series, my main goal is not to critique the group being critiqued, but to use the book to ask, “what can I learn about myself, and the weaknesses and dangers to which conservative evangelicals are prone?”

As a pastor, I’m a talker. I talk a lot. And I’m sensitive to the fact that people sit and listen to me talk. But I don’t want to be just a “talker.”

• We become mere talkers when we preach our opinions rather than the substance of God’s Word.

• We become mere talkers when we preach doctrine that is unrelated to life; when we dump loads of information without demonstrating its significance and application.

• We become mere talkers when we repeat our Biblical formulations and doctrinal statements by rote, without thinking about how this material is being received.

• We become talkers when we use philosophical or technical language that may impress, but does not lead to understanding. There is a certain kind of understanding that requires the work of God’s Spirit, but there is also a kind of understanding that happens when the speaker is speaking your language.

• We become mere talkers when we refuse to listen carefully to the questions people are asking. Now it is true that, at times, people ask the less pertinent question. And there is then the responsibility and opportunity to direct people to the better, more telling question. But all of this requires listening.

Self-Critical

Thinking through Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be), by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Moody, 2008

First of all, this is not properly a book review. For a thoughtful review, please go to here - where Tim Challies authors a review of this book.

What I would like to do as I blog through this book, is to look for aspects in the emergent movement, discussed and critiqued by the authors, that should give “submerged” evangelicals (ch 1) pause. Why is it that this movement has “emerged?” Have there been things about the “old” evangelicals that are so stubborn and stupid, that some from a younger generation have been compelled to go start something “new?” I’m not sure that the answer is all that easy. Points of frustration with what is old have likely merged with points of curiosity that appeal to the young; and points of contextualization that may be theologically astute may have intermingled with points of compromise that are Biblically weak, or worse.

But what can we gain from this? What can we learn?

In the Introduction by David Wells, we are challenged with being self-critical. And here are six suggestions about which traditional, conservative evangelicalism may be justifiably self-critical:

1. We tend to be too rational; and not sufficiently engaged emotionally. We simply do not display the kinds of deep emotion described in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms, but by Paul as well. Both joy and tears are terribly subdued, or absent. Something is wrong when, due to the entrance of grace into one’s life, and discovery of the greatness of things divine, we are not often overwhelmed by a sense of joy and wonder. And something is also wrong when we lose sensitivity to sin, whether in our own lives, or the terrible evils of the world. God is not unmoved by these things, but strangely, we are.

2. I believe that two key indicators of spiritual vitality are prayer and witness. In that case, we are in trouble. It is like saying, “Other than the fact that his heart is not beating, and he is not breathing, everything seems just fine.” Whether or not emergents provide a solution, they have heard a couple of generations of evangelicals talk about the absolute importance of prayer and witness, but have witnessed their absence.

3. The Cross is more old news than good news. The old hymn says, “To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true.” But meditation on the Cross requires thoughtfulness – more than merely trotting out phrases made into cliches. Verbalizing a subconscious ditty about the Cross is not remaining true.

4. A religion that becomes routine must necessarily deal with small subjects. We’ve made our doctrines of God and sin manageable. And in order to be grasped by the wonder of grace, we must certainly realize that sin is anything but manageable. And any reading of Scripture with brains turned on will be instantly shocked by the unmanageability of God.

5. We, in our comforts, securities, and prosperities, have adopted a local, present-world orientation. “How’s it going for you?” We rarely think of heaven outside of funerals, and we generally ponder the wider world in terms of threats to security or opportunities for commerce.

6. We are beset by little-changed lives. The pursuit of holiness has been replaced by the pursuit of many other things. We are taught to affirm ourselves, and we assume that if we are satisfied, then God must be satisfied as well. This is tantamount to resisting the Spirit, and we seem content, having claimed the benefits of justification, to avoid sanctification altogether.

Now I understand that these are sweeping condemntations, and that none of these are universal. There are wonderful exceptions to each and every point. But if that is what they are, exceptions, then that would mean that the above points are the rule. I pray for the kind of renewal in local churches where the rule, not the exception, would be a revitalization of deep, heart-felt worship that expresses itself in prayer and witness – that digs deep into the Cross, and regularly experiences wonder and awe at being “loved to death” by Christ – and that then is seized by hope, and driven by love.

I wonder if, lacking these things, some from a younger generation have gone off to seek something better.

Good Works

It is surprising how often "good works" are mentioned in the little book of Titus (1:16; 2:7,14; 3:1,8,14). I believe that many Christians who hold firmly to justification by faith shy away from the subject of works out of fear of compromising this foundational doctrine. But such "shying away" is unbiblical in itself. Paul was clearly concerned that Cretan Christians not live for themselves, but that they, on the foundation of God's grace (2:11) and kindness (3:4) be earnestly involved in good works. The following study seeks to show that the theme of good works is prevalent not only in Titus, but throughout the New Testament.

The following are Bible verses and notes containing some form of the phrase "good works" in the New Testament. These references are taken from the ESV. The list is broken into parts due to either different words used for "good" in Greek, or because of word order (in English, our adjectives normally precede nouns, e.g., good works; but in many other languages, including Greek, the word order is flexible.

"Good (kalos) Work"

Matt. 5:16
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.

Note: These “salt and light” good works, distinctive in a tasteless and dark world, emanate from transformed, distinctive lives, as evidenced by the shocking qualities of the Beatitudes.

Mark 14:6
But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

Note: Devotion, even wasteful devotion, to Jesus, is a good work. Good works are not judged on their worldly profitability, but in honoring that which has eternal value.

Heb. 10:24
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Note: this goes back to our study on zeal: it can be “provoked,” or “stirred.” We must be sure that our appeals to zeal are built on the foundation fo grace, not obligation, guilt, or even merely human enterprise.

Note: we tend toward apathy and laziness. We tend toward self-centeredness and self-indulgence. The community of believers needs one another to stay active, not passive. We need good examples, and we need our good examples to serve, not alone, but by drawing others into their activities.

1Pet. 2:12
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Note: we have abandoned the Biblical balance on this issue, and promoted evangelism above service, words above works. In a world where words are cheap, we must prepare the way for them with good deeds.

work good (kalos)

1Tim. 5:10
and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

Note: here we are given some specifics. While service opportunities are multiplied for those who circulate outside the home setting, this passaged certainly provides a helpful outline. Care and attention to the young; offering hospitality; giving attention to basic needs of life; coming alongside those who are suffering – all of us see all of these things on a regular basis.

1Tim. 5:25
So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

Note: good deeds are not chosen for their marketing value. They are done because they are good, and, according to Mt 6, we should seriously avoid the motivation to attract attention. Does this mean that promoting “good works” programs are almost instantly flawed?

1Tim. 6:18
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

Note: a great text that offers specifics.

James 3:13
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

Note: “Meekness of wisdom” is to characterize our works, even as “gentleness and respect” are to characterize our witness (1 Pet 3:15,16).

work good (agathos)

Acts 9:36
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.

Note: we can suppose here the truth of the last reference. She did not aim to create a reputation, but the reputation followed nonetheless.

2Cor. 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Note: we begin the first of 3 or 4 references where we are taught that good works arise from a divine foundation; they are not a ladder to get to God. Our abounding is evidence of new life that was raised from our deadness by the grace of God.

Eph. 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Note: We always want to read ourselves into the center of the text. But the center is God, His grace, demonstrated and communicated through Christ to us. The argument of this passage is not talking about our activities or good works. It is talking about God’s good works. I think this is a poor translation that is almost universal, “for good works.” The Gr. text reads “upon good works.” We walk in God’s good works in Christ Jesus. Our good works (discussed in chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians, not in chapters 1-3) are built on the foundation of God’s good works.

Phil. 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Note: I believe that this reference supports my interpretation of Eph 2:10.

Col. 1:10
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Note: And even here, our “bearing fruit” may be due to our proper connection the the life-giving vine (Jn 15), so that our role may not be so much in the foundational good work done by Christ, but in the expression, or fruit, of that living work.

2Th. 2:17
comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Note: And again, “every good work and word,” in context, may be referring to God’s grace and gospel. These, if authentic, will certainly bear fruit. But again, it is not primarily about us and what we can do.

1Tim. 2:10
but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

Note: the ability to participate in the worthwhile work of God will not be accomplished through human persuasiveness (2:8), attractiveness or sexiness (2:9), or assertiveness (2:11). How much to our evangelistic efforts resort to these “human” trends, as though we cannot trust God to accomplish the good work that is truly His? And may this not explain some of the miserable results, whether in the lack of professions, or, more importantly, in the lack of true conversions?

2Tim. 2:21
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Note: Good works from a dirty life are incongruous.

2Tim. 3:17
that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Note: Good works, apart from Scriptural guidance and correction, cease to be good.

Titus 3:1
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

Note: Good works done out of rebellion are generally unhelpful.

The Answer to our Hopes and Dreams

• We want to be safe and secure.
• We want our kids to succeed.
• We want to be comfortable, and happy.
• These are our hopes and dreams.

And the person, or institution, or philosophy that can deliver our hopes and dreams we could call “savior.”

But there is the problem. There is only One Savior. And the hopes and dreams he has personally pledged to deliver may or may not align with our self-chosen hopes and dreams.

Jesus’ last name isn’t “Christ.” The term “Christ” is a title. He is “the Messiah” (the Old Testament version of the very same concept as “Christ”). “Christ” and “Messiah” mean “Anointed One.” He is the only One authorized and able (anointed and appointed) to deliver our legitimate hopes and dreams.

When I submit to Christ, I allow him to dictate what are those legitimate hopes and dreams. They include such things as:
• Being put right with God
• Receiving forgiveness of sins
• Being adopted into God’s family
• Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit
These are hopes and dreams that we can live with, and for which we can commend to our children.

Conclusion to Do Hard Things

from the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion against Low Expectations, by Alex and Brett Harris.

The Three Pillars of the Rebelution: character, competence, and collaboration (p. 176)
These provide an easy framework from which to Do Hard Things. Here are some of the questions that these authors have provoked me to ask about myself:

1. Concerning character

a. Am I being honest with my own heart about sins and shortcomings; about misses and failures?
b. Am I allowing Scripture to dissect my life? When I read Scripture, do I apply it personally?
c. Am I carefully listening to what others tell me? Do I seek their input?

2. Concerning competence

a. Am I paying attention to the small things, to practice them diligently?
b. Am I daring to do bigger things – things that I have never done before?
c. Am I learning from my mistakes?

3. Concerning collaboration

a. How many new people are in my circle of contacts, with whom I share ideas and make plans?
b. How many things do I find myself doing all by myself, not involving others?
c. Who am I discipling and mentoring?

A Holy Ambition (p. 181)
Not all of our ambitions are holy. Even when it comes to character, competence and collaboration, we can go astray. We might aim to see our character shaped by some shining human personality, replete with distortions, rather than like Christ, who is perfect and beautiful in his holiness. We can become competent at some pretty bad things, or become proud when we get good at good things. Teams can go astray, just like individuals.

So how can I make my ambitions holy? By making sure they aren’t mine to begin with, but God’s. When I am drawn in to His ambitions, to do my part in His way in His time, enabled by His Spirit for the fame of His Son, - then they are holy. Anything less is profane.

Taking a Stand

(an ongoing review of the book, "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris)

If we are to Do Hard Things, then it is clear that, at times, we must stand against the tide, or even swim upstream. As the old hymn says, this vile world is no friend to grace (Am I A Soldier of the Cross), and as Jesus said, “if they hated me, they will also hate you” (John 15:18,19, paraphrased).

“We have to care more about pleasing God than we care about pleasing man” (p.148). A clear quote, and Biblically sound. My only question is this: is my problem more with being driven to please others instead of God? Or am I tempted to please myself more than God? In either case, the quote stands, since “man” is still being placed above God.

“Please understand that we are saved by faith alone, but true saving faith doesn’t stay alone” (p. 151). A classic quote, but unattributed. Am I one of many Christians who is content with a dormant faith?

A Guide for Knowing How and When to Take a Stand:
1. Start with the Bible
2. Examine yourself.
3. Listen to your conscience.
4. Seek godly counsel.
5. Be humble, loving, and bold.
6. Be part of the solution.
This list of 6 things indicates that “taking a stand” should not be done without prayer and careful thought. How much damgae is done by spontaneous reactions that are filled with not-so-righteous indignation? I especially like #’s 4 and 5. We must be open to the advice of others whom we know to be godly, and we must check our attitudes at the door.

Is there a stand you know you should be taking but haven’t?
Is there something in your life you know is wrong but continue to do?

No Lonely Leadership

Titus: Paul, how could you leave me here in Crete, to pastor this church all alone?
Paul’s response: no, Titus – there is to be no lonely leadership

“This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—” (Titus 1:5 ESV)

Titus is to set things in order. Why? Because everything tends toward disorder, whether your garage, your closet, or your heart and life. But notice the difference. When you come to the back door, disorder in the mud room is obvious. What you don’t see is that the disorder in my soul, and your soul, is insidious. We can read the remainder of this little letter as Paul’s ordering instruction for a disorderly church.

Now I understand that, while there is great satisfaction to bringing order to segments of life – a desk, or a drawer – I understand that it is intimidating and threatening for someone else to say that they are going to restore order to something that touches your world. That seems invasive and intrusive.

But remember, we are talking about the ordering of a household of faith; our household; our community of believers. And some people are anxious for some order to take place. Others are saying, “what’s wrong with things the way they are?” But we must admit, that if the household is going to work properly, and help bring about the well-being of its members, then order is helpful; it’s healthy.

Paul wrote to Timothy in a similar vein in 1 Tim 3:15 – he talks of “how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and foundation of the truth.” So as the church is properly ordered, the truth is properly honored. And the truth works, so long as the truth is applied to our lives. It brings about change and growth in our spiritual lives, change and growth that we desperately need. But when there is lack of order, the truth lies unattended, out of place, and change and growth are lacking.

But you might argue that Baptist don’t do elders. Well, that’s an uncomfortable question. If the role of elders is Biblically mandated, why haven’t we done it? I think there are at least four reasons.

The first arises out of how we use our Bibles. We have favorite texts, and we ignore others. Everybody does. The Bible is a big book, and we can’t hold the whole thing in our heads all at once. And our key text for church leadership has been 1 Timothy 3, in which it talks about bishops, or overseers; and deacons. Not elders. Now in other texts, like Titus 1:5,7, the words “overseer” and “elder” are used interchangeably so that we conclude that they refer to the same office.

The other reason I think that Baptists have tended toward the pastor/deacon model is because of our historical emergence. Baptist churches proliferated in the U.S. in frontier and backwoods communities. There was rarely a ready pool of leadership from which to choose elders. In fact, not only would there be one leader, but a single, itinerant pastor might exercise a primary leadership role over several congregations.

But having had time to absorb the Biblical teaching, and to grow and mature beyond our historical roots, why have we still avoided this term “elder?” And I think the hard answer is “tradition.” Tradition trains our eyes and our minds so that we see what we are used to seeing, and we gloss over what does not fit. Tradition coaxes us to rationalize, saying that our deacons act like elders, or to compromise, saying that the specific offices do not matter. This leads to the fourth reason: sin – that is, an unwillingness to change in accordance with the Bible’s teaching.

So we aren’t taking a vote – we are trying to follow the Bible. And here is what Paul says: “Titus, I need you to restore order to this church, and you are to begin with the leadership. Appoint elders to the congregation.” Why? Because there is to be No Lonely Leadership.

The Old Testament gives a great foundation for this theme. In three passages: Exodus 18; Numbers 11; and Deuteronomy 1, we are given a backdrop for our thinking about elders.

Exodus 18:5-27
In Exodus 18:18, Jethro says to Moses in the face of his responsibilities with the people, “You are not able to do it alone.” It reminds us of what God says, recorded in Gen 2:18, “It is not good for man to be alone,” or of Elijah’s dejected words in 1 Kgs 18:22, “I alone am left.” And Jethro, a brand new believer, can clearly see that this is not a desirable situation.

What’s so bad about “lone leadership?” As Jethro said, “It’s bad for you, and it’s bad for the people.” No one person has the breadth of person and experience and resources to serve the needs of the people well.

So Exodus 18 teaches that capable men are to be chosen to come alongside Moses. In connection with what we will find in Numbers 11, these are men who are made capable by God’s Spirit. They are spiritual men. Their capability is not primarily in their reliance upon natural or physical resources, but in spiritual. They have specifically forsaken foolish “valiancies,” like “holding their liquor” (Is 5:22); or hitting home runs. Further, our understanding of this capability is enhanced by the next phrase: “men who fear God.” This could be a study on its own. But suffice it to say at this point that they are more intent on pleasing God than pleasing men.

Another couplet is used in Exodus 18 to describe the men who would be chosen as assisting elders: they are reliable men who hate unjust gain. They are “amen” men; men of whom you can say, “and it was so.” What you see is what you get. And these men have strong passions. They fear God. They hate unjust gain. I love these verses from Psalm 119: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” (Psalms 119:36-37 ESV) They don’t seek to find their meaning for life – what makes life worth living – in stupid things.

Numbers 11:10-17, 24-30
In Numbers 11, the Spirit who has been given to Moses is given to seventy elders (vv. 25,29). It reminds us of Jesus sharing the Spirit with the disciples after the resurrection, by breathing on them (Jn 20:22). The point I want to make from this passage is in the prophecy of v.29: “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
(Numbers 11:29 ESV). This prophecy was further detailed in Joel 2, where it says that both young and old, sons and daughters would prophecy. This has been fulfilled at Pentecost, and, in Christ, we are indeed all prophets, and priests, and kings.

That is why, when I see how the Bible talks about elder ministry in the church, I do not conclude that it is elder rule, or elder government. I still believe that there is a biblical basis for congregational involvement in the decision-making of the church. And one of the key reasons is that the Spirit of God is not possessed by the pastor alone, or by elders alone, but by all believers.

Deuteronomy 1:9-18
In Deuteronomy 1, the story is told once more. “Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’” (Deuteronomy 1:13 ESV). The wisdom mentioned should be that of a heavenly perspective on practical issues. Understanding means the ability to exercise discernment, to sort out difficult issues. Experienced means knowledgable, that is, knowledge gained from a life experience of walking with God. These terms are enhanced by another qualification: “no partiality.” Favoritism is not to be shown to insiders over outsiders, nor to the great over the small. “You shall not fear man” (v.17). I think Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in John 7 get at what is needed: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24 ESV)

We need to understand that the appointing of a council of elders is Biblical, even while we recognize that it is a bit counter-cultural. All around the country today, churches are being formed that are reflecting a very different trend. On the one hand, there is a great priority being placed on youthful leadership. The church seems convinced today that, in order to catch our culture, we have to be cool. And one thing is clear: old men are not cool.

Another pattern is that of staff leadership – not the men of the church, but a staff of men brought in to design and lead the pre-planned organization.

In all of this, there is still the constant pandering to the magnetic personality of the single leader – the one who, when he speaks, we will heed his words, and follow his lead. The Bible identifies that person as Jesus.

So in summary, what is the case for a multiple leadership of elders, properly qualified?

More sets of eyes to see beneath the surface of things, to avoid reactions based on deception and lies

A pool of wisdom, discernment and experience, since no one person can embody these in fullness, save Christ (and we are not claiming that even a group of elders measures up to Christ)

A representation of God’s Spirit – though neither the pastor alone, nor the elders together, have a monopoly on the Spirit. The Spirit has been given to all believers, and we remain thus firmly committed to congregational government, though with elder direction (group) as opposed to pastor (individual) direction.

These should be capable men who fear God; and reliable men who hate unjust gain – who serve together to avoid the perils of lonely leadership, so that the household of faith might prosper spiritually and grow.

Small, Hard Things

from the chapter “Small Hard Things,” in the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, by Alex and Brett Harris.

Once again, I am impressed by the practical value of the material assembled and written by these young writers.

Key Quote: “The truth is that your life (both now and later) will require you to invest a lot of time and energy in things that aren’t big and that don’t seem to make much of an impact” (p. 134)

Five Excuses for Failing to do Small Hard Things:
1. Procrastination
2. Inconsistency
3. Compromise
4. Begrudging
5. Cheating

One of the “smallest,” hardest things in my life is prayer. And I think I can apply each one of the points above.
1. Persistence - I many times put prayer off until a better time, but there rarely is.
2. Inconsistency - So some days, I fit in prayer, and some days I don’t.
3. Compromise - One area of compromise is praying on the run. Instead of getting into position to wrestle with God in prayer, I think that I can as effectively pray on the fly. But this kind of prayer lacks seriousness and reverence.
4. Begrudging – this shows up especially when it is time to pray with others. These times can be precious and powerful, but letting go of the time that I selfishly call “mine” is difficult.
5. Cheating – when I spend some time thinking about someone, and call it “prayer,” it is cheating. Thinking and a problem and praying for a person are not the same thing.

Here are some habits for doing Small, Hard Things:
1. work hard
2. maintain a postive attitude
3. live with self-discipline and integrity
4. serve others

Again, all these can be applied to prayer.

Hard Drudgery

"Hard Drudgery," from the chapter “Raising the Bar,” in the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, by Alex and Brett Harris.

The authors inroduce the phrase “hard drudgery” in an illustration about Teddy Roosevelt. He “did more than survive. In a way that few men have matched, he thrived” (p.104).

Teddy’s father introduced him to routines of “hard drudgery,” daily disciplines that pushed him and stretched him. I think that these exercises probably provided benefit in at least a couple of ways.

On the one hand, they helped him overcome some built-in weaknesses with which he was born. If I have a weakness, I need to work hard to overcome it. Also, the routines of “hard drudgery” accustomed Teddy to discomfort. It is my addiction to the comfortable that builds up a resistance toward stretching and strengthening.

The authors make this statement on p. 103: “A commitment to growth kills complacency.” So now we have two devastating “c” words: comfort and complacency.

When I perfect the practices of comfort and complacency, I show myself to be firmly committed to the status quo. I’m resistant to change, and I am setting myself against growth.

The authors introduce yet another pentrating thought early in the chapter – claiming that to “do your best” is usually an excuse. If we claim to have done our best, then we exempt ourselves from doing more. Steps that go above and beyond will be precluded. What, exactly, is “my best?”

The authors don’t press doctrine at this point, but I feel that I must. To think that Jesus did “his best” at every step and turn throughout his earthly life is absolutely astonishing. He lived perfectly. He never misused an opportunity. He never cut a corner. He always fulfilled the will of the Father on every level, whether externally in behavior, or internally in motivation. He did the little things, the acts of “hard drudgery.” He never opted for the comfortable or the complacent. He always did his best. I’m amazed.

Why Not Change Now?

from the chapter “A Better Way: Reclaiming the Teen Years as the Launching Pad of Life,” in the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, by Alex and Brett Harris.

This chapter, “A Better Way,” sets up the next section of the book with five challenges for doing hard things. We’ll be looking at those one at a time. So specifically, the question, “Why not change now?” is pointing toward that section.

But who understands exactly how we change? We all talk about it. Most of us desire it. But the most valuable change comes from the inside out. And this seems to surpass our capabilities. I am suspicious that our authors, young as they are, may think that deep life change is merely a matter of making up one’s mind to do so. For example, I’ve made up my mind many times to lose a few pounds. A few times, I’ve actually done it. But I can’t for the life of me tell the difference at the beginning of the process between the few successful diets and the many fairy tale diets.

Here’s just a couple of “change” verses in the Bible: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23 ESV) – it makes “deep” change sound pretty difficult. “For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21:32 ESV) – what would it take for them to change?

But my skepticism aside, how about a better, more powerful word? Not just changed, but transformed. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3:18 ESV)

And here, we have to confess that we do not change ourselves, but we are changed by Another, by the One who Comes Alongside, the One with whom we are to keep in step.

What is Dependent on God’s Word?

That is, if not for the truth and power of God’s Word, what would we be missing?
1. life change that is more than cosmetic
2. a certain future shaped by promise
3. confidence in the midst of confusion

Let’s look at the first paragraph of Titus again: “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;” (Titus 1:1-3 ESV)

We’ve covered (in previous messages and posts) faith-knowledge, and the fact that an eternal God who plans our eternal future chose people for faith in eternity past. Now we come to this subject of the truth. This idea is linked in this first paragraph to the character of God (He never lies), to the nature of much of His revelation (promise), and to ways that He has expressed Himself by Word and words, through His Son and messengers. I’ve also marked in my study Bible in the letter to Titus the many references to God’s Word, teaching and doctrine, so that we must conclude that when Titus was sent to “put things in order” (1:5), the use of God’s Word was absolutely critical.

1. God’s Word is absolutely necessary for life change.
If God’s Word in its truth and power is missing from my life, I will never change. Yes, of course I can change cosmetically. I can change the color of my hair. I can rearrange the furniture. I can change certain patterns and habits. I can re-invent myself in various ways, maybe even learn an accent. But I cannot change at the deepest level. I cannot change my heart. God does that through His Word.

And this is where I know, deep down, that I need to change. This is where the frustration and sadness really comes, when I see the kind of person that I really am, whether it has to do with self-centeredness, or lack of love, or twisted motives. I can paste a smile on. I can’t, by myself, change my heart.

So merely educating myself in the latest psychologies or motivating myself with some best-selling self-help is still only cosmetic. It is like adding volumes to a library that does not contain the answer. Dewey and his decimals do not hold the answers for the problem of a sinful heart.

Also, will-power, for all that it can do (cf. Tower of Babel) fails on two levels. It, also, does not change the heart. And it is guilty of producing unintended consequences. How many cancers are the result of a desperate will-power? How much mental dis-ease? How much nervous exhaustion, leading to an inability to rest or relax? When we saddle our own wills with the burden of responsibility for accomplishing things that only God can do, we will tend toward destruction and debilitation.

And so, if I truly desire heart change in my life, what will I do? I will bow my knees and devote my attention to God’s Word. I will read it prayerfully and ask that God’s Spirit would take its truth and imbed it in my heart, even as I purpose to submit and obey what I find there.

Further, if I fail to spend time with God’s Word, I must honestly admit that I really don’t want to change. I will, in that case, be telling God that I would rather do things my own way, and please leave my heart alone. If I neglect God’s Word, I am proclaiming my rebellion against being God’s person, whom He would reform and re-make into Christ’s likeness.

2. God’s Promise has the Power to Shape the Future
Secondly, God’s Word has the power to shape my future, since He so often speaks by way of promise. All other words, other than God’s Word, come across as so much propaganda. Much of it is wishful thinking, and all of it is subject to change.

But God’s promises are certain, so much so, that once He utters the promise, the outcome is as sure as though it had already happened. Think of Abraham, to whom God said, “I will make you a great nation.” That’s a promise, and it implies that there would be a son. Even though it would be 25 more years before a son was born, the certainty of there being such a son was absolute. Further, even though twice Abraham tried to give his wife away, God would not allow His promise to be sabotaged.

Another promise is repeated many times throughout Scripture: “I will be with you.” This promise was repeated to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and many times over, even to us, when Jesus ends his Great Commission with, “for lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This shapes our future, so that we know that we are never alone. And so we, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, make our decisions based on this certainty. These young men were faced with the test of bowing to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, or being thrown into the fiery furnace. But the promise of God so shaped their future, that they were willing to enter the furnace, whether or not they would be delivered, knowing that they would certainly not be alone. And Nebbie himself was forced to admit that there appeared a fourth figure in the furnace.

If I fail to lay hold of the promises of God, then I consign myself to a life of good (or, not-so-good) intentions and wishful thinking. I may prove to be “the captain of my soul,” but it will be a soul that never reaches port. Only God’s Word can safely lay a course for tomorrow. These promises deserve memorization and meditation.

3. God’s Word is the only Source of Confidence in a Confusing World
Finally, we can live confidently in a confusing world only if we commit ourselves to the touchstone which is God’s Word. We live in a world full of experts who do not know what they are talking about. Week by week, we are warned against, and then advised toward, eating eggs and apples. We cannot agree on the condition of the atmosphere above us or the fossil fuels beneath us. And now we see a bunch of women carrying around little ugly dogs, just because Paris Hilton did it. I need direction that I can trust, that keeps me from being “tossed to and fro by every wind.” Where can I find the help that I need?

In the truth, in which God has made promises, and now has made available to us. And God does not lie.

How Can Cretans be Christians? (2)

In the first article, we found that Titus 1:1 makes clear that it is faith-knowledge that can make Cretans to be Christians. But the next question is, “How does one get this faith-knowledge?” The answer is at least partly contained in the phrase, “the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1).

We are in the midst of an election year. Candidates will promise all kinds of things, hoping to convince and compel fickle voters to pledge their electoral commitment. We will find that the candidates are willing to say and do almost anything to collect votes. Let’s be clear here: God is not running for office. He is not up for election. God is the One who elects.

People often counter: But don’t we have free will? Jonathan Edwards thought so (The Freedom of the Will), if I read him correctly. My illustration (gained from reading him, but for which he bears no responsibility) is as follows: My car has a free wheel

That’s right. It has a steering wheel. And that free wheel determines the direction the car goes. But the free wheel is also stupid. It is completely dependent upon the character of the person behind it. And if the Bible is clear about anything, it is clear that the hearts of men and women are sinful – so much so, that apart from the grace of God, not a single one of us would direct our free wills to turn to God. There would be not one single Christian if it was up to human free will as directed by sinful hearts.

Let’s think of a Bible illustration. God had promised to Abraham lasting life through the gift of a son. So was Isaac, born when Abe was 100, the product of Abraham and Sarah? According to Romans 4:19, not really. There was a time, 13 years before Isaac’s birth, when Abraham attempted to assist God in the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose. The result was Ishmael, and Abraham could say, “Look what I did,” and God said, “No!” But by the time Isaac came around, the verdict on Abraham was “as good as dead,” and the description of Sarah’s fertility was “barrenness.” And guess what? A baby was born – a gift from God, wholly of God.

We sometimes think that in salvation God gives the grace, and we supply the faith. But just as God supplied both the seed and fertile egg for the life of Isaac, so also God supplies both the grace and the faith for spiritual life. When we are born again, our first response is that cry of faith in Christ, similar to a baby’s first cry, and yet no one thinks that the baby was the cause of his/her own existence, or contributed to his/her birth in any way other than showing up.

When Jesus spoke those phrases in John 6: “All that the Father gives me will come to me” (v.37); “No on can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (v.44); and “no one come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (v.65) – the people grumbled (v. 41), and the disciples grumbled (v.61). Why did they grumble? Perhaps for two reasons:

On the one hand, and more generally, people resist the idea of a God in charge. It is strange, because if God is not in charge, then can we really call him God at all? But on the other hand, people grumbled because Jesus was describing the radical nature of the relationship that one must have with him in order to be raised at the last day, that is, to have eternal life. We must get Christ into us somehow, almost like ingesting and digesting. We need to get him into us, almost to be us.

That is not the kind of relationship that most people want with Jesus. They want a mutual consent relationship. You give me bread, and I’ll give you a measure of loyalty. You make me happy, and I’ll attend church, or give away something, or give up something. You make me promises, and I’ll vote for you as Lord and Savior.

But remember, neither God nor Jesus are running for office. No, that is not Biblical Christianity. Paul talks to Titus about Cretans who are wonderfully changed by a radical relationship with Jesus Christ that they could never have come up with on their own. It must have been something that God did, because He chose them for salvation.

This subject brings up so many questions. I’ve already answered the “whosoever will” questions. The answer is, that the world is filled with “whosoever won’t” kind of people. But what about this response then: if God is going to do all the choosing, then why bother to pray or witness?

The answer is that God is pleased to use means to accomplish His ends. And if God is pleased to use my prayers or my witness to be a vehicle or instrument in causing a light to shine into a darkened heart, or in causing spiritual truth to be apprehended by an obstinate mind, so that for the first time a person sees Christ clearly, or understands the Gospel for the very first time, though they may have heard it many times before – then praise the Lord. And what a privilege to be involved in His eternal plan and purpose. I need not worry about who is elect and who is not. But I know that, were not God so good and gracious, all would be condemned.

How Can Cretans be Christians? (1)

I ask this, especially in light of Paul’s description to Titus of the society to which he was ministering, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” (Titus 1:12 ESV)

Cretans can become Christians because of the faith-knowledge that has taken hold of them (1:1). According to J.I. Packer, this is “a kind of knowledge of which God is both giver and content.” “It is a Spirit-given acquaintance with divine realities, given through acquaintance with God’s Word” (p. 57 of “What Did the Cross Achieve?” in In My Place Condemned He Stood, Packer and Dever, 2007.

It is the kind of faith that transformed Paul’s perspective in Galatians 2:20, where he says “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” It is the kind of knowledge that Paul aspires to in Philippians 3:10, where he says “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”

People with this faith-knowledge, used together in Ephesians 4:13, will be marked by the priority of Christ in their lives, more so than by commitments to programs and personalities. They, in short, are enamored with Jesus. The two words are also used together in Philemon v.6, where it brings about counter-cultural behaviors that will surprise those who live around you, so much so that they will probably ask you the reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15). In Titus 1:1, this faith-knowledge allows people to see and appreciate God who has an eternal plan and purpose.

Now, to avoid confusion, let’s try to define this faith-knowledge more finely:

What Faith-Knowledge Is Not:
1. it is not rationalism or unaided reason (divine realities are not merely higher thoughts that Cretans can sit down and figure out)
2. it is not experientialism or emotionalism (not just a hyped-up state, the result of a Cretan revival meeting)
3. it is not the exclusive property of either the intellectual elite; or the religious elite (this faith-knowledge did not belong merely to Paul, or Titus, or even just the appointed elders, but to the common, Cretan Christians)

What is Faith-Knowledge?
1. it is revealed insight, graciously unveiled by God
2. it is relational and covenantal, thus enduring and binding
3. it is spiritual and transformational, changing from the inside out

Based on the three points above (What is Faith-Knowledge?), here are corresponding practical implications:

Practical Implications:
1. do I demonstrate a practical dependence on God’s revealed truth? Do I read, study, discuss and apply God’s Word.
2. do I love God and His Word? Am I captivated by Christ?
3. am I a changed person? Am I a changing person? Am I committed to being shaped by God and His Word?

Rebel

On page 5 of chapter 1 (see note below), the authors say that this book is about “a rebellion against low expectations.”

It is not unusual to see the word “rebel” associated with teens. A “rebellious teenager?” Some might ask if there is any other kind.

But the truth is, we are all to be rebels, against some things. And also, it is wrong to rebel against other things.

It is wrong to rebel against God; against His Word; against God-given authorities, like parents, elders, and government. There are exceptions in cases with the last three, but there is a principle of submission here, not rebellion.

So against what (or whom) should we rebel?
Against sin and Satan, and the kind of tyranny that they would exercise over my mind and my heart.
Against the world and its God-ignoring tendencies, treating Him as though He does not exist or does not matter.
Against the worship and coddling of self, whether in avoiding responsibility, or in seizing selfish ambition.

The list could be long, and our lists will be different. What is your list of things against which you should (must) rebel?

Note:
Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, a recently released book (Multnomah) written by 19 yr old twin brothers, Alex and Brett Harris, is a challenge to do just what the title says.

As a dad, mentor, and pastor, I have shared this book with a little circle, and we will be discussing its contents with one another. Here are some short posts con of my initial thoughts as I read through.

Do Hard Things

Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, a recently released book (Multnomah) written by 19 yr old twin brothers, Alex and Brett Harris, is a challenge to do just what the title says.

As a dad, mentor, and pastor, I have shared this book with a small circle of people, and we will be discussing its contents with one another. Here are some short posts on of my initial thoughts as I read through.

The title reads: Do Hard Things. What are the hard things that God wants us to do? I think I know the hardest: to die. Not necessarily in the physical sense of the word, since we are all going to die eventually; but to die as a follower of Jesus. Since he died for us, we die with him, dying to self and our own little kingdoms. He becomes the central figure of my life; not me.

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 ESV)

As I read the title of the book, the endorsements and the introduction, I hope that the authors will challenge me and other readers to think through and take action to do
the hardest thing - dying, in order to do
the greatest thing – living a life that is truly alive.

Liars

Jonah’s life was marked by flagrant fouls; by grievous inconsistencies. He claimed that he “feared God” (Jonah 1:9), but he really didn’t. His actions spoke more clearly and accurately than his words.

Jonah was a non-praying prophet. Yes, it must be admitted that he prayed in the belly of the fish. “I called out to the LORD,” (Jonah 2:2 ESV). But he did not pray in chapter 1, even when urged to do so (1:6). He prayed only when he had to, only when he was compelled. This is like when a person confesses their sin .. once they are caught. You can never tell if the repentance is real or authentic. And you can not tell the authenticity of the submissive soul except when it prays willingly, and not merely out of desperation.

And so when Jonah prayed, he must have felt so good about himself. “What a relief to get this off my chest! I feel so good when I pray, kind of like making up after a fight. God and I are good again.” Is this true religion? A brief religious exercise that purges our conscience but changes little else? And don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we, in our occasional prayers, actually betray our own selves, indicted by all the times when we fail to pray, and that our prayerful pledges of love and dedication sit stranded in lives lived in autonomy from God’s help and direction in our lives? What about the songs that we sing? “Oh, how I love Jesus; Oh, how I love Jesus, Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me.” Certainly love for Jesus is fitting. But memorizing in our heads this little chorus is far different from having our hearts trained to fly to Jesus in love moment by moment throughout each day of the week. Or how about “I Surrender All?” “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, In His presence daily live. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender; I surrender all.” Really? Complete surrender? Has anyone ever surrendered absolutely everything to God outside of Jesus Himself? Yes, the category of song is that of Aspiration. Perhaps the song is not stating a fact, but a desire: I desire to surrender all. Really? Don’t you at times desire to rebel? To live independently from the will of God, fleeing from the doing of his will, like Jonah, the liar? “It is the Cry of My Heart to follow You.” Well, sometimes. But a lot of the time, the truth is that cry of your heart couldn’t even be voiced aloud due to the shame that it would bring to you and your family.

The truth that must be said of ourselves is not that we are excellent in our religious practices, but that we are sinners. And then, gratefully, it can also be said, truthfully, that God is gracious, and that He is able to drive His grace just as deeply into our hearts as our sin is rooted.

Secondly, Jonah is much too willing to blame God for his predicament.
“For you cast me into the deep,” (Jonah 2:3 ESV)
“Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight;” (Jonah 2:4 ESV)
Don’t we do the same thing? How could God let this happen? Imagine the setting, the stench, the slime, the revulsion.

But are we careful to trace how the consequences of our sin bear themselves out in our lives? And in our most reflective times, are we willing to sort through the events of our lives to see if it could be that a loving Father is using discipline in our lives that will correct his erring children, and purify us for His purposes and for our sake?

So we have these two lies from the lying lips of Jonah: the pretending of a Christian consistency; and the pretension of a Christian blamelessness. Once again, I find that I am more like Jonah than Jesus. By God’s grace, that will change.

Spiritual Sleep

There are at least two kinds of sleep: the one in which a person is exhausted by pouring himself out in ministry to others (Lk 8, see verse below); the other in which a person is dull and lazy, serving only selfish interests (Jonah 1, see verse below). In Jonah, we have an example of the latter, while in Jesus we have an example of the former.

Spiritual sleepiness lays one bare to any number of perils. An interesting cross-reference is that of Sisera, captain of Jabin’s troops, as he flees for his life (Judges 4, see verse below). A false sense of safety and security allows him to fall into a deep sleep, to his peril. There are lessons to apply for those of us who battle spiritual sleepiness.

How does one know if he/she is in the grip of spiritual sleepiness? Just compare yourself to Jonah.

1. Do you place high priority on feathering your own nest (or, find a nice, quiet, dry spot in the hold of the ship in the midst of a horrendous storm) with little thought of the predicament of others?

2. When challenged to pray, do you actually pray? Jonah was commanded by the Commander to arise and pray. He arose, but he didn’t pray, just as God had told him to arise and go to Nineveh. He arose, but he didn’t go to Nineveh.

3. Do you spout theological truth that is patently untrue when it comes to your life? Jonah said that he feared the Lord. But it is obvious that he did not fear the Lord. He got his description of God down real nice. But there was a gap between his doctrine and his practice.

4. Would you rather die than do God’s will? That sounds extreme, but that is where we find Jonah. He could have fallen on his face and repented, saying, “Turn the ship around. Let’s go home.” But he didn’t repent. “God hurled the storm at me. Pick me up and hurl me right back at God.”

Spiritual sleepiness a) lulls us into losing any sense of concern for the souls of men, whether of sinners or sailors. Spiritual sleepiness b) drowns out a sense of the reality and fearsomeness of God. Spiritual sleepiness c) seriously fogs the claim of God upon one’s life to serve Him according to His will, as He sees fit.

And spiritual sleepiness is not merely an OT problem. The church at Sardis is warned of their death-like sleepiness, and given pointed instructions:

“You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” (Revelation 3:1-2 ESV)

I know that my works are not complete in the sight of my God. The works of our local church are not complete. Nor are the works of the Body of Christ throughout the world.

Verses from Above

(Luke 8:23-24 ESV) “and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!””

(Jonah 1:5-6 ESV) “But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god!”

(Judges 4:20-21 ESV) “But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died.”

God in the Concrete

“But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” “ (Jonah 1:4 ESV)

God acts concretely in the Jonah narrative. God hurls. God appoints, a fish; a plant; a worm; a strong east wind. He does these things, not in the abstract, but in the concrete.

If a meteorologist had studied the maps in the moments leading up to this storm, what would he have seen? Did God arrange for this storm using natural means, or was it a surprising, inexplicable occurrence? Or what about the fish (1:17)? Did it have a mommy fish, growing the way that fish grow? And did God move the boat to where the fish was, or the fish to where the boat was? Could God have created that fish right then and there, so that Jonah was its very first meal?

Whether or not God worked through means and processes, or whether He acted in more radical fashion, what we have are God’s acts in the concrete. But in our world today, we are often left with only abstract references to God and abstract expectations of God.

When someone says, “Well, I guess the good Lord was watching out for me today,” he probably is referring more to a god-idea or god-principle than he is to the Almighty God who breaks into history to accomplish His purposes. I am not arguing against the providence of God. Not by any means. I am arguing against the widespread notion of God that denies His fierce reality. When we say, “Watch out! God might strike you with lightning!” we don’t really believe that God might actually do that. We don’t really believe in that kind of God, who stops people in their tracks, or puts His finger on a prophet gone AWOL.

Not only is God really real, but so is the incarnation and resurrection of His Son. Jesus really rose from the dead, in the concrete, not just in abstraction. Some teach that Jesus rose “spiritually.” Somehow we are to be inspired with this sentiment. But Jesus’ resurrection actually involved the reversal of all the effects of death in a human body that had already begun. It is this physical, concrete resurrection which assures us that the concrete God will work again to make a New Creation that is rid of sin and evil. It’s more than just an idea or theory. It is a confident, concrete expectation.

And so, then, Christians should be more than abstract Christians. Am I a concrete follower of Christ? Do faith, hope and love have concrete expressions in my life, clinging to God’s Word over my own senses; living beyond current conveniences in the expectation for future glory; sacrificing self for the sake of others?

A merely abstract God is no God at all.
A merely abstract Jesus is no Savior at all.
A merely abstract Christian is no Christian at all.

A final word. No Christian perfectly expresses faith, hope and love. At times we despair in the almost-absence of these evidences. But God will fan into eternal flame the smallest sparks of His saving grace in our lives. We are not saved by our faith, hope and love. But we seek to encourage such concrete expressions, that the world might be convinced of God, so much so that they “ “falling on their faces, will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” “ (1Corinthians 14:25 ESV, edited)

In God’s Face

In God’s Face

In a world where people have a hard time grasping the concept of sin, we struggle even more with the truth that our sins are offensive to God. Isn’t it His job to forgive? Isn’t He big enough to get over it?

God says to Jonah, “their wickedness has come up before Me.” (Jonah 1:2 NAS95S) The phrase could be translated literally, “their wickedness has come right up in My face.”

We have a hard time facing up to our sins against God. Perhaps this illustration will help (in part, gleaned from Colin S. Smith, “The Ambassador's Job Description: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21” in Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, D.A. Carson, general editor, 2000, p.185). If I dig a hole in the garden with a shovel and cut an earthworm in half, I’m not bothered at all. If I hit a squirrel with my car, I go, “eww,” but don’t lose any sleep. If I back over the neighbor’s child, the lives of several people, including my own are shattered. But when I sin against God - and all sin is against God - it affects my relationship with God eternally, unless that sin is dealt with in a satisfactory way. The gravity of an offense is measured by the value of the being that is offended. Cut a worm in half. Two worms. Hit a squirrel. Nuts. But human beings created in the image of God, devastating. And offending God. Damning.

So Nineveh’s sin is serious. So is your’s. So is mine.

When King David fornicated with Bathsheba, conceiving a child while her husband was on the battlefield fighting for David’s kingdom and David’s honor, David sinned. When Uriah refused to come home and sleep with his wife (so as to cover up David’s earlier sin) while his comrades were still fighting, and so David had him placed on the front lines in order to be killed, David sinned. And finally, when David confessed his sin, he said, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,” (Psalms 51:4 ESV). Strange. Seems to me David sinned against more people than just God. But David got something right. Because of the value of the Person offended, his sin was mostly, primarily against God.

When I sin, it has consequences for me and for those around me. But the magnitude of my sin is right up there “in God’s face.”

About Face

The best way to know one’s mind is not only to hear his words, but to also see his face. And so God, in making known his holy mind to sinful men sends His Word delivered by prophets with human faces.

Jonah, and Jesus, are prophets. One was an Anti-Prophet. The other is the Ultimate Prophet. Once again, we must decide if we will follow Jonah, or Jesus. The (literal) use of the word “face” in the opening verses of Jonah provides the starter material for our discussion. “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” (Jonah 1:3 NAS95S) The phrase could be translated literally, “from the face of the Lord.”

Where is God’s presence? Isn’t it everywhere? “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?”
(Psalms 139:7 ESV) For this prophet, a fair interpretation would be to say that when Jonah ceased to be where God wanted him to be, and go where God wanted him to go, then he was no longer living in God’s presence, or before God’s face.

So Jonah forsook God’s face, rejecting the message, and he also fled from the mission field, rejecting the recipients, refusing to communicate with them face to face. There is a lesson here. Rejecting the faces of the recipients of God’s message coordinates with fleeing from God’s face. “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;” (1John 4:20 ESV) We cannot love the Lord fully and not also love those to whom we have been called or sent.

As followers of Jesus and representatives of the Ultimate Prophet, we may wish that God’s mind could be communicated merely with propositions. Air drop some literature on Nineveh. Send a mass e-mail to all my associates. Let’s be done with it. But the message is not merely propositional. It is also personal. Jesus came and delivered God’s mind to us in person – He spoke the message (propositions), but even more, he incarnated the message. There is an application here. So we also must seek “face time” with those who would be recipients, in those places where God has called us to be, and those places where God sends us to go.

We live in an informational age overladen with technologies that permit and encourage minimal personal contact. But the very culture that maximizes such capabilities at the same time hardens people against the practice. People are resistant to mere propositions. They need to receive the Good News from someone they can respect; from someone they can know and trust; from someone who will take the time to sit with them face to face.

Jonah: The Recalcitrant Prophet

This past Sunday (1/13/08), in introducing Jonah, we looked at some of the historical and geographical background.

Regarding the historicity of Jonah and this story:

The truthfulness of the Jonah story is no more difficult to swallow than is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, just as our hope in a new heavens and new earth is no less justifiable than is our acceptance of the creation of this present earth as described by God in Genesis 1,2. Yes, our faith embraces that which is utterly fantastic, and we deal with a God who is wild and wonderful. And what is our problem with that?

Regarding the geography of Jonah:

The far, even unreasonable distance which Jonah was unwilling to travel east to Nineveh was more than matched by his willingness to travel even further west to Tarshish (perhaps on the SW coast of Spain). But then, the distance that Jonah was willing to traverse in order to avoid God, God is willing to solve in order to forgive and fellowship with His people:

“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 103:12 ESV)

“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 8:11 ESV)

The low esteem which Jonah held toward the Ninevites could be contrasted by the high value he placed on his own self and independence from God. Jonah helps us to see more clearly, then, the humiliation of Jesus, who placed such high value on miserable sinners that he voluntarily humbled himself to serve us and save us.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)

And so we see Jonah, the Recalcitrant Prophet, that is, one who digs in his heels and resists his summons to testify. Perhaps we can see some parallel with this excerpt from a portion of our legal code, and maybe even a hint of what is in store for Jonah, the Anti-Prophet.

U.S. Code Collection: TITLE 28 PART V CHAPTER 119: § 1826. Recalcitrant Witness (a) Whenever a witness in any proceeding before or ancillary to any court or grand jury of the United States refuses without just cause shown to comply with an order of the court to testify or provide other information, ..the court, upon such refusal, ..may summarily order his confinement at a suitable place until such time as the witness is willing to give such testimony or provide such information.

Faith Illustration

This illustration is designed to show that faith is not a work. It helps me to think about the relation of grace and faith, as in Eph 2:8,9.

Think of a milkshake. God graciously gives the milkshake. We didn't provide the resources, or make it. God did. But we are supposed to drink it.

Some people would say that our faith-response to God's gracious gift is the straw through which we suck up the milkshake. But I don't think so. God gives the straw as well.

So then faith must be our ability to suck the shake up the straw to ourselves. But I don't think that is right either. We can't even suck without God giving the ability, and even then, I don't think that is where faith comes in.

I think faith is more like God doing everything, providing the ingredients, making the shake, giving the straw, drawing the shake to our mouths, and the response of faith is merely savoring what God has done.

I think that is what faith is. It is realizing that without God, we can not be saved, and that we cannot contribute to the process. Faith is savoring, appreciating, and valuing what God has done in Christ. Faith is savoring Christ. Is it essential to salvation? Yes. But it does not place our actions at the center. God through Christ is at the center.

The Church is Packing Heat

News stories frequently highlight the twists and turns of sin in a hundred variations, and, on occasion, shed light on how the evangelical community is seeking to operate with regard to sin’s influence.

On a recent Sunday (Dec 9, 07), there was another shooting by a crazed gunman, this time targetting Christians in Colorado, at the YWAM training center in Arvada, and then at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. This event, like the others, are tragic and troubling. There are so many issues upon which we as a society should reflect.

But the aspect of the story that caught my attention was the fact that the gunman was stopped by an armed security guard at a Sunday morning church gathering. I will be watching closely this coming Sunday to see if our ushers are packing heat.

Leaving aside the propriety of guns at worship gatherings, I would like to take the theme and run with it. The Church of Jesus Christ is indeed “packing heat,” though not the kind for which news reporters and paranoid pastors will be watching.

The Holy Spirit
When Christ ascended, He poured out His Spirit upon His Church, and we serve, pray and worship only in this Spirit. Every activity undertaken without the Spirit’s guidance and enablement is destined to be merely temporal, and actually detracts from the mission. We “pack heat” in that the Spirit of God is the One who provides the Church with power.

The Gospel
What message can change a life, and bring about the most dramatic reversal “from death to life?” What news is so good, that it drives all others stories, no matter how troubling or tragic, into the background? Only the Gospel. It is the “power of God for salvation to all who believe” (Rom 1:16).

Holiness
The holiness of God is so overwhelming, that sinful humanity cannot stand in its glory. And yet, redeemed sinners are declared holy, and progressively transformed into holiness by the sanctifying (holi-fying) work of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. This is “packing heat” in the sense of bringing white-hot, out-of-this-world sunshine into human experience.

Love
What can melt the heart of stone? God’s love. And God has demonstrated His love in sending His Son, Jesus, as sacrifice for our sins (Romans 5:8). That is a very hot love. And now, followers of Jesus Christ are to be the carriers of that very same kind of love, by which other hearts may be melted so they can be changed toward holiness through the Gospel administered by the Holy Spirit.


I am thankful that more lives were not taken last weekend as the gunman was stopped in that confrontation by the security guard. But I desire a Church that packs the kind of heat specifically ordained by God to reach a very cold world.

Sacred Scriptures

Sacred Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:15-17

1. There is a mystery to the mind of God; and a hiddenness to the heart of man.

There is a mystery to the mind of God, and a hiddenness to the heart of man. The chasm between these two seems insurmountable. Yet somehow, God reveals, and some men and women are regenerated. I would not say that there is a meeting of the minds, but there is the creation of children of God who share in the character and program, that is, the mind, of God.

2. God clearly desires that His Word finds its home in our hearts, that we might delight in Him; and love and glorify Him

God clearly desires that His Word finds its home in our hearts, that we might delight in Him; and love and glorify Him. And so He communicates. Somehow, the God who is spirit puts His truth into human thought-form and language. He speaks to Abraham, though how we do not know. He summons Moses from the burning bush. He pushes His poetry through the fingers of David using pen and paper. And then He sends His Son, Jesus, the incarnation of the character and purpose of God, so that we can hear, see and touch in human flesh what God is about. The manner and ministry of this Savior have been written down as well, so that today we hold in our hands and on our laps a written revelation of the mind of God in Old and New Testaments, which 2 Timothy 3:15,16 are holy writings able to make us wise to salvation and Scriptures that are able to qualify and equip us to do God’s bidding. We have a written Word that does not evaporate into the air, and that, though quickly forgotten, can be reviewed and relearned again and again.

3. God’s written Word is profitable and effective in bringing about life change.

When God’s Word hits not just our ears, but the hard surfaces of our hearts, we are changed. Nothing stays the same when penetrated by God’s Word. We become what we never could be – men and women of God. We do what we never even wanted to do – serve God. It is the inspired Word of God that is able to take a life and transform it into a tool for God’s use. And so we must clearly confess our need for exposure and acceptance of the Scriptures.

4. God’s holy Word is opposed by a multitude of profane communications.

But as we come to consider the context of 2 Timothy 3:15-17, we must recognize that there are many profane communications that stand in opposition to God’s holy Word. The contrasts are found readily in the surrounding text:

a. the profitable Word (3:16) opposed by deceivers and deceptions (3:13)

3:16 says God’s Word is profitable to improve a life, but 3:13 says that “evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Now it’s easy to say, “Don’t be deceived.” But how do you know? By tracing the words of Scripture with your crooked finger, lest crooked hearts lead you away into lies!

b. a commitment to a pattern (3:10) opposed by cycles without change (3:7)

3:10 says that Timothy followed or tracked Paul’s “teaching, conduct, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions and sufferings.” The apostolic testimony, and the life that was in accordance with that testimony, served as a roadmap for Timothy’s life. But there were others (3:7) who were “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” They are not becoming more like Christ because they are not committed to “the standard of sound teaching” (1:13,14).

c. the word of truth (4:2,4) opposed by myths (4:4)

4:2 commands Timothy to “preach the Word.” This Word is called “the truth” in 4:4, from which some have turned aside. The verb “turn aside” is used elsewhere in the Pastorals with reference to fruitless discussion (1 Tim 1:6); Satan’s lies (1 Tim 5:15); and worldly and empty chatter and opposing arguments (ESV, irreverant babble and contradictions) (1 Tim 6:20). In this passage, we find that we are tempted to turn aside from the truth of Scripture to myths.

I will suggest some contemporary myths based on these previous three paragraphs.

1. The Myth in the Message - those whose message is not tied to the written Word and who espouse human-centered or humanistic messages (e.g., public school psychology; and leading popular public personalities, both secular and religious)

2. The Myth in the Messenger - those whose lives are not conformed to the pattern of sound teaching. Their lives are marked by areas of disobedienc, which either disqualifies from serving as a messenger, or at least should warn off those tempted to follow their teaching. If they are not even able to teach themselves, then why should we listen to them (e.g., non-suffering servants who live like kings; women preachers, including husband-wife pastoral teams; those who play to the camera)

3. The Myth in the Masses - those whose desires dictate what they hear (e.g., shopping for a message; searching for an experience)

The Enlivening Spirit

The second chapter creation account in Genesis reveals provocative insights into the nature of man: “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (Genesis 2:7 ESV). Man in his material constitution has a correspondence or affinity to the ground (Psalm 103:14), adam to adamah (Hebrew). From dust we were taken, and to dust we return (Genesis 3:19). But this is not all that man is. God breathed into Adam the breath of life. Adam became a living soul. We rely not on the dust for our life, but upon God, and upon His breath, or spirit.

In both the Old Testament (Hebrew) and New (Greek), “spirit” is a word that can also be translated “breath” or “wind.” When God breathed into Adam the breath or spirit of life, He “in-spirited” him. Apart from this breath or spirit, man was yet dead. (You might also re-read John 3, and think about Jesus’ illustration of “wind” and “Spirit.”)

Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones also powerfully communicates this theme. What a place of waste and death! Nothing good can happen here. Life is long gone. But Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy, the wind (spirit) blows, and life returns.

Have you ever had the wind knocked out of you? How about the Spirit? I’m not saying that we ever completely lose the Spirit, but are you ever de-vitalized, dis-spirited? We pray for the enlivening Spirit to properly inflate our souls and the souls of those to whom we minister, as only God can do. No false inflations – only the real thing will do.

And when will the Spirit act? We do not know. But we do know that He acts in conjunction with the Word (of which Ezekiel was the mouthpiece), and we speak the Word to ourselves, and to others, with the expectant hope that the Spirit will soon revitalize and revive. No place of ministry or sin-stained life is too far gone. God can raise the dead, give life to dry bones, cause the desert to bloom, bring stubborn souls to repentance and revive lifeless churches.

In a deflated world, what a difference a “filled” Christian can make! That would be spiritual power.

Reading Assignment: Psalm 51

The Ordering Spirit

Scripture continues immediately after her opening line with a non-picture of the un-created: “ “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2 ESV)

We as a group of fellow-ministers are meeting to encourage one another, and to think about spiritual power. We desire to see God at work, and yet realize that there is a lack of spiritual power in our spheres of ministry, including in our own lives. This is not a new problem: Paul describes people in the last days as “ “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” (2Timothy 3:5 ESV) And so we are reflecting on how the Spirit of God is pleased to operate in order to bring about God’s good work.

If it is true that the Spirit was operative in creation in bringing order out of disorder, then may we entertain the thought that the same Spirit may also work in our lives and ministries to bring order out of chaos? It seems that this is at least similar to His activity described in Galatians 5:17: “ “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” My flesh is not re-formed or restrained of itself, but only as the forceful Spirit is engaged in the battle.

As to the Spirit’s “ “hovering, ” I am thankful for the Spirit’s attentive presence. Peter puts it like this: “ “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1Peter 4:14 ESV) That hovering Spirit is creating order in a world that pursues disorder.

So can we pray together that the Spirit of God would continue his activity of bringing order into our disordered world? I cannot order my own soul aright. I need spiritual assistance if I ever am to know spiritual power.

Reading Assignment: Ezekiel 37

Preach the Word!

“Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:16 ESV)

These same prophets are described earlier in Jeremiah as offering up “false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds” (14:14). This assures a future in which people will have nothing solid on which to stand (16:19); nothing of substance on which to build their faith.

The chief motivation of these false prophets must be the desire to give the people what they want. They desire the acclaim of the crowds, and the illusion of success that this brings. This may bring to the prophets the benefits of personal peace, power and prosperity. But the Bible so clearly warns against such behavior, both in the Old Testament (so often in Jeremiah) and in the New Testament (e.g., “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” (2Timothy 4:3 ESV).

Is it true that every preacher with a big crowd is a false prophet? No, thank the Lord, we cannot and will not make that claim. But should we be careful to examine why there is such public appeal – is it because he is giving people a taste of the crystal-clear water of the Word of God? Perhaps. But both Scripture and experience teach us that the crowds prefer the syrupy-sweet as opposed to the crystal-clear.

So what are we to do? In the general context of Jeremiah, there is an interesting phrase that gives the singular, suffering prophet some advice: “if you extract the precious from the worthless” (Jer 15:19). Preach the truth. Agree that there are shards of truth contained in the drivel of popular preaching. But let the truth shine in its proper context. Remove the sugar-coating.

Preach not to the response of crowds, but rather to the repentance of souls.

Judas and Jesus in Amos

As I read through the Bible, I try and keep my eyes open for connections with other parts of Scripture. Though written by many different human authors separated by centuries, the Bible really is a single book with a single message. Therefore, catching rays of light from different angles in our reading can enrich the spectrum of our understanding.

I’ve been reading and re-reading through the Minor Prophets, and have been stuck on Amos for a while. In a couple of different places, Amos made me think about Judas, and Jesus.

Amos 2:7 (NAS) occurs within the eight-fold address to the nations, and then to Judah and Israel concerning their offenses and punishments. Concerning Israel, God says “I will not revoke its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for money, And the needy for a pair of sandals.” The phrase, “the righteous” can refer to “the company of the righteous,” or, “all those identified as being righteous.” But it is singular. And so it could be translated and read as “the Righteous One.” “They sell the Righteous One for money.”

Matthew 26:14-15 (NAS): “Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighted out thirty pieces of silver to him.”

It seems that Judas, rather than entering into covenant with Jesus, entered into covenant with the unbelieving Jewish leaders. The Book of Ruth (4:7-8) shows the use of a sandal in enacting a legal decision, and Amos follows his reference of selling the righteous with selling “the needy for a pair of sandals.”

The other Amos reference is in 5:12: “For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous (the Righteous One) and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate.” This distress is recorded in the John 13:18, which quotes from Psalm 41:9: account, as shown in Psalm 41:9 “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.”

Judas did nothing new. His fathers had practiced the behaviors of betrayal for lifetimes, readying Judas to do the unthinkable, joining forces with the devil as opposed to submitting to the Lordship of Christ. We break free from this heritage and pattern only through the in breaking of God’s grace, who turns us toward Jesus.

Willow Creek Repents

I’ve been trying to absorb the impact of the “Out of Ur” article entitled “Willow Creek Repents.” (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/10/
willow_creek_re.html)

Yes, it is commendable that Willow Creek performed the evaluation and considered its findings carefully. And it is also commendable that the admission was made public. But the scope of this mistake is huge. It applies not merely to one man’s ministry, or to just one local church’s operation. The mistake has been perpetuated throughout a whole network of imitators, many of whom have been trained and resourced by Willow Creek ministries. This is no personal and private mistake. It has been confidently exported using the most efficient means possible.

And why is it so damaging? I think for at least two reasons. One is because of the spiritual effect on people. Many were drawn through the power of programs to participate in religious activity. Many people got a taste of religion, of church, even of the gospel. But when the program did not produce the kind of life change offered in the pure gospel, they are then inoculated against the truth of the gospel. They can never hear it for the first time again. Their hearing has been tainted by an approach that was “a mistake.” Just as taking a poor, unsuitable antibiotic that is not fit to fight the disease can actually build resistance against the proper medicine, should it be administered in the future, so I fear that a mistaken approach to introduciing people to Christ may have a similar effect.

Secondly, I don’t believe that the Bible is being taken seriously. “We made a mistake” is an admission that was made, not because they saw that their actions were not in keeping with Scripture, but because they found that they were not producing the desired results. And so they are now concocting an approach that they are sure will produce better results. And I am sure that they are confident that their new methods will accomplish what they desire, though they were formerly quite confident in the old methods.

Ironically, the very Scripture to which they are paying insufficient attention describes what seems to be going on. Jeremiah 5:31 (NAS) seems to me to apply (rather prophetically): a) “The prophets prophesy falsely, b) And the priests rule on their own authority; c) And My people love it so! d) But what will you do at the end of it?” A) They make confident assertions. B) They design their own model for doing church. C) They are affirmed by the responses of many people. D) And they are surprised that it doesn’t work out the way they projected.

I began this article with a couple of positive statements, and let me end with a couple more. I believe that these people desire to serve God in the best way possible. They have found ways to minister to more people in a week then I may in a lifetime. But, following 1 Corinthians 3, we must be very carefully to build with gold, silver, and precious stones as opposed to wood, hay, and stubble.

What the Gospel Is: A Brief Statement

Book Report: The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. Mark Dever. Crossway, 2007

"Here’s what I understand the good news to be:"

"The good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him. But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him. In his great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in him. He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted. He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God." (p.43)

What the Gospel Is Not

Book Report: The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. Mark Dever. Crossway, 2007
from the chapter, "What Is the Gospel"

“That which passes for the gospel too often becomes a very thin veneer spread lightly over our culture’s values, becoming shaped and formed to its contours rather thant to the truth about God.” (p.32)

The Good News is not simply that we are OK. (Romans 6:23; James 2:10-11) The Bible presents God not simply as our creator but as our jealous love. He wants us – every part of us. For us to think that we can disregard him sometimes, to set aside his ways when it suits us, is to show that we haven’t understood the nature of the relationship at all.

The Good News is not simply that God is love. (1 John 4:8; Hebrews 12:14) God reveals himself as the God who requires holiness of all who would be in loving relationship with him.

The Good News is not simply that Jesus wants to be our friend. (Mark 10:45; Revelation 5:5-9) Christ isn’t just our friend… He is our friend, but he is so much more! By his death on the cross Christ has become the lamb that was slain for us, our redeemer, the one who has made peace between us and God, who has taken our guilt on himself, who has conquered our most deadly enemies and has assuaged the personal, just wrath of God.

The Good News is not that we should live rightly. (Acts 20:21; Mark 1:15) The gospel, you see, is not simply an additive that comes to make our already good lives better. No! The gospel is a message of wonderful good news that comes to those who realize their just desperation before God.

Now and Forever: 1 Peter 4:7-11

As I have studied Peter’s first letter, I have been thinking a lot about where we live, as strangers – people who have a different sence of place. But this paragraph and the next are reminding me that Christians also have a very different sense of time.

Life is not merely cyclical. God has a plan, and He is bringing His plan towards a conclusion. So when Peter says in 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand;” people who subscribe to the “on and on” view of life must think his words very strange. Do we really stand on the precipice of change, in which a new world will dawn whose look and operation will differ significantly from the world in which we now life? Are we living our lives with that kind of hope and expectation?

If this is true, then how should we live? Several options are possible: 1) run and hide; 2) eat, drink and be merry; or, 3) make the most of the time that we have. The third option is the one that Peter advocates. He admonishes these mis-placed, yet God-placed believers to spend themselves completely, and joyfully, for others in the remaining, difficult days.

Why? For God’s glory. And when we serve for God’s glory, we are not investing in a dying world or in an uncertain future. We are banking on the one thing that is more sure than anything else, that God is real, and that He is glorious.

At one time there was such a thing as the “gold standard” – that every dollar was backed up by gold. Peter is advocating a “glory standard” – that every act of every pilgrim life is to be done for God’s glory. That’s a good investment, both now and forever.

Partnership in the Local Church

Our Union with Christ is part of a Cosmic Communion. It includes believers from past and present; from far and near. Our Union with Christ is expressed by our participation and partnership with a local body of believers, a local church. The local church keeps in mind and serves the interests of this Invisible Church.

In the Bible, the term “Invisible Church” is never used. The Bible uses the word “church” both when speaking of that communion that surpasses location and date, and when speaking of the local church, which has a specific location and time.

This dual sense of “church” renders other terms a bit confusing. We often use the word “member” with regard to the local church. But the Bible, so far as I can tell, never does. It speaks of individuals being members, or parts, of the larger Body of Christ. Also, it is now common to hear of the local church being a “covenant community.” But the New Covenant is that which centers in Christ’s shed blood, for all believers in all places. Just as there are not numerous Bodies of Christ, so there are not a multiple of covenants with Christ. And so, when we use the words “membership” or “covenant” in relation to the local church, we are actually stealing, or borrowing, terms that the Bible reserves for a grander relationship.

This is not to reduce the importance of the local church or one’s participation and partnership in the local church. We just struggle to state that connection properly, in a way that does not make the local church an end in itself, or an entity that overshadows the fellowship for which we await. To be fair, the local church is to take seriously Body membership and Covenant inclusion. We say as much when we baptize with water, with reference to the Spirit’s baptism into the Body of Christ; and when we extend invitation to the Lord’s Table, enacting a kind of covenant renewal. There can be an analogy between one’s immersion into the Body of Christ, and one’s participation in a local church; in one’s renewal of covenant enjoyment and commitment to Christ, and one’s partnership with a local church. But these are analogous. They are not identical. And I fear that often, the visible overshadows the invisible; the local outstrips the cosmic.

And so I am working with the terms “participation” and “partnership.” And these are not without difficulty. Some participate in aspects of the local church without showing many characteristics of partnership. And the definition of partnership is changing, some for the better. We have to ask questions about the degree to which one should participate without partnering. And we have to ask what expressions of partnership are necessary to be considered a partner in the local church.

I suggest that there are three areas where we ought to expect agreement if we are to be in partnership together at a local church level:

1. Conversion and baptism –

2. Doctrine and life –

3. Prayer and service -

1. We hold to a believers’ church. Therefore, you must have begun in the Christian life. You must be born again. We rely on your profession of faith, as expressed in believers’ baptism.

2. Also, we need to stand in large (but not complete) agreement on the teachings of Scripture. Local churches take particular doctrinal stances as they seek to understand the Scriptures. The Bible is not ambiguous. It gives clear, though not complete, knowledge. This doctrine assumes an application that shapes one’s life in a godly or Christlike way. We partner as we live lives that behave according to our beliefs.

3. And third, we partner as we pray and serve together. We are not partners together merely to have names on a list. We are not partners together merely to exist. We are here to serve God’s interests, which depends upon the Spirit’s leading in our midst. This means that, alongside Scripture, we must pray, and then serve. If you are not praying and serving, then you are not partnering.

There are several Biblical words that underlie a concept of partnership in the local church. I hope to develop these further in another paper or post. They include ideas of fellowship, or, koinonia; and being of one mind. These include ideas of relationship, and of agreement. And such issues are never finished projects. We work together, by God’s grace, serving the high calling of Christ’s Church and God’s Kingdom.

The Church’s View of Discipleship

In the 1st century church, a few disciples were known as Christians. But there were no Christians who were not also disciples. In the 21st century church, there are a few Christians who are known as disciples. But discipleship is not the norm.

Acts 11:26 – not all disciples were known as Christians, but all Christians were disciples

and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Nominal Christianity (Christianity in name only) is dead. This is true in at least three senses:

1. Christians in name only are really not Christians at all, and so are spiritually dead

2. Our culture has lost patience and respect with this kind of “casual” Christianity, which is betrayed by the shallowness of its beliefs and commitments, and by the absence of life change.

3. It is dead in that it has no spiritual power associated with it. It has institutions and patterns which have created a kind of Christian sub-culture, but it is dead and dying, and such churches are drying up and closing down. This is supported both by the text of 2 Timothy 3, and by the statistics related to dying churches, found in a variety of sources, such as Harry Reeder’s book, From Embers to Flame: How God Can Revitalize Your Church, P&R, 2004.

Discipleship Christianity is alive and well

1. These Christians are related primarily to Christ, and secondarily to a local church.

a. It is Christianity; not church-ianity

b. Their Christianity is personal, a real relationship with a living person.

2. These followers of Jesus are consistently seeking how to live Jesus’ life in every arena of their lives.

a. It is not Sabbath or Sunday Christianity; it is everyday

b. Their Christianity is universal, pervasive

3. These disciples accept responsibility for representing Jesus to their families, friends and associates; and they accept the consequences

a. They do not rely on pastors, missionaries, or churches to take care of their Christ-representation

b. Their Christianity is missional, persecutional

The Shape of New Covenant Discipleship

New Covenant discipleship is not an effort to behave better, but to follow Jesus as fully as possible, to have his character stamped on our hearts, so that we resemble him. NC discipleship is not primarily performance-oriented, and it certainly is not a superficial conformity to a set of rules for appeance’ sake. It is transformational, as the Spirit of promise establishes ownership and control in our lives, including our minds, our affections, and our will.

New Covenant discipleship is representative. As I am fully and completely represented before God by Christ, I in turn seek to fully and completely represent Christ in the world.

New Covenant disciples have:

• A new Captain under a gracious administration

• A new identity and a blood-bought fellowship

• A new mission that cannot be measured in dollars, or numbers, or status

• A new worldview that drastically changes the definitions

The Church’s Leadership

A Note on Biblical Terms:

Elders in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are a fact of life. In some cases they are there because people grow old enough to be elders. In other cases, they are present because certain ones have been appointed to leadership. The term seems to have significant overlap with the position of pastor/shepherd and that of overseers. It seems that all pastors are elders. It would also seem that all elders have pastoring/shepherding and oversight functions. But not all elders are teachers, though pastors must teach. The purpose of this study is not to re-construct leadership polity, but rather to notice what Scripture teaches about the functioning of church leaders, known as elders, overseers and pastors.

I will add a note after each selected text reference, with the verse following on the next line.

Acts 14:23 – emphasis on carefulness of selection

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church (acc. to church), with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 20:17 – multiple elders, though it is possible there are also multiple congregations

Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

1Tim. 4:14 – carefulness in setting apart young leadership

Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

1Tim. 5:17 – not all elders preach and teach; also, the translation “rule” is unfortunate. A better translation would be “lead.” Elders are not kings; they are leaders.

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

Titus 1:5 -

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town (acc. to town) as I directed you—

The main point of this lesson is to emphasize the need for church leadership, and for a kind of church leadership that is pointedly involved in the lives of people. Church leaders must lead by example, but example alone is not leadership. Therefore, I have zeroed in on the use of “rebuke, reprove” as one of the functions of church leadership (Titus especially helps us here). Certainly there are a whole array of pastoral functions when dealing with people. Rebuking is only one of the them. But it is certainly one of them.

Selected verses using “rebuke”

Matt. 18:15

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Luke 3:19

But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,

John 3:20

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

John 16:8 – we rebuke now, to save from rebuke on the Day of Judgment

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

Eph. 5:11

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Eph. 5:13

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,

1Tim. 5:20

As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

2Tim. 4:2

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Titus 1:9

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Titus 1:13

This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

Titus 2:15

Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Noun form

2Tim. 3:16

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Summary Notes:

1. We will not meet the leadership challenge without meeting the prayer challenge. (Cf the previous post on the church's direction and enablement.)

2. We live in a world that tends toward disorder, especially spirit and soul disorder. Christian maturity will not happen on its own. Leadership is needed.

3. Faithful and willing men who meet the qualifications for church leadership are increasingly rare.

4. Honest confrontation is not inconsistent with a loving and caring Christianity.

5. One should notice what things are not included in the Bible’s description of the roles of elders/overseers/pastors.

The Church’s Direction and Enablement

Key Verse: Eph. 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, (the rolling of the dice; experimentation), by craftiness in deceitful schemes (rationalizations)

Too many churches and too many times, we (and people like us) have resorted to experimentation (or imitation of the experiments of others) that is a pragmatic attempt to find what works as opposed to a determination to follow the Spirit’s leading. We also can hide behind an approach that elevates human reason. This may be an excuse to retreat into a dead but comfortable traditionalism, which also is not responsive to the Spirit’s leading. The following verses include warnings and determinations which apply to this subject. I have underlined phrases that should prompt reflection.

2Cor. 11:3
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2Cor. 4:2
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

1Cor. 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

Paul’s selection of images in Ephesians offer further food for thought. As a local assembly, we must seek proper alignment with the Cornerstone (Eph 2:20-22). Only the Spirit can create the environment where this proper alignment is achieved. Also, the Body is to live and move in coordination with the Head (Eph 4:15-16). Again, only the Spirit can coordinate proper expression.

The Church’s Direction and Enablement are ultimately from Christ, through the Spirit. Our seeking of Christ’s direction and enablement through the Spirit are pursued, not through the imitation of the church-down-the-street’s latest experimentations, and not by an independent reliance on our own good sense, - but through careful attention to Scripture (Job 23:8-14), and through the practice of prayer (cf prayer in Acts).

The texts mentioned above are highly instructive. Job is poetic, and powerful. You can read it yourself. I provided a sheet with all the references to prayer in the Book of Acts. It is a very easy search to do – but a more difficult practice to follow.

If we are to commit to a) Scripture-attentiveness and b) prayer-practice, then we must set aside significant and quality times for these activities. They need not be whole-congregational, but small-groupish, in order that they can be conversational. The emphasis in these gatherings is to seek the Spirit’s direction and enablement.

The need for these kinds of activities is not an argument for a rejection of preaching and teaching. We actually need more teaching and better preaching. But the activities mentioned above allow the congregation in smaller units to respond to preaching and teaching, in conjunction with reflection and listening.

Your Grace is Showing

“For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” (1Peter 2:19 ESV)

And there’s the rub – Christians who are not “mindful of God.” Having been saved by grace, we resort to living by our wits, trying to figure out how not to get beat by the system. We’ve got our ticket to heaven. Now we must find our way in the world.

But there is such a thing as a Christian calling, and that is to be a Christ-follower. When Jesus submitted to suffering, he introduced to the world a scent from heaven – grace, that must be dispersed again and again by scattered people.

So here you are, caught in a system that you did not create, a slave to a master you did not choose. So long as it works well for you, it is tolerable. But when it pinches, then we are trained (by the world, not God) to cry and complain. “This is not right. It is not fair. I don’t deserve this.”

That’s what Jesus did, right? When he was reviled, he whined. When he suffered, he protested. When he was nailed to the cross, he vowed to retaliate. No, he submitted, in order that the grace of God could do it’s powerful work in a sinful world, in sinful people who in no way deserve God’s grace.

I think of Naaman’s servant in 1 Kings, an Israelite captured in a Syrian raid and now working in a foreign captain’s home. When he contracted leprosy, she could have wished that he would rot in hell. Have you ever wished that on a boss? But what showed was not her resentment, but her grace. “There is a prophet in Israel. He can help.” Why stick out her neck? Why bother? Because grace was a powerful force in her life, and she was “mindful” not merely of her self and her own situation, but “of God.”

Don’t Fear What They Fear: Fear Christ

There is more than meets the eye in Peter’s famous evangelism text: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” (1Peter 3:15 ESV). The verse begins with the tail end of a quotation from Isaiah 8:12,13 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.” “The last part of the verse (underlined) has been recast by Peter as “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.”

If we begin to circle out from this quotation, we find materials to form a chiasm, a literary structure that may have been in Peter’s mind, and not just in my own imagination. Even so, I find it helpful in relating ideas to one another. Here is my outline.

A. Evildoers are Active (13)

B. Good Cause (13)

C. Zealous (13)

D. Suffer for righteousness sake (14)

E. Blessed (14)

Don’t fear what they fear: Fear Christ! (14,15)

E’ Prepared (15)

D’ Speak concerning hope (15)

C’ Gentleness and Respect (15)

B’ Good Conscience and Conduct (16)

A’ Evildoers are Ashamed (16)

Let me give you just a few thoughts on the matching points:

Concerning “A. and A’”, sure, evildoers are active. But in the end, they will be reduced to humiliation. See many of the Psalms with regard to this theme.

Concerning “C. and C’”, I think you can find the materials for “How to be a Zealot, but not a Terrorist,” or, “How to Share the Gospel Graciously.”

Concerning “E. and E’”, the Greek words actually match up better (visually) than the English (and also, word order in Greek supports this outline better than the English word order). To be “blessed” means that we don’t have to worry about securing our place in the world, or getting the “stuff” of the world. But the other word, “prepared, ready,” shows that we are not to be at ease, apathetic. We are filled with sense of urgency and expectation, even as we are marked by a sense of blessed security.

I wouldn’t die for this outline. But I am thankful for the cross-germination of thoughts that it fosters.

Jonah and Jesus (4)

A Creature made Sick; or Creation Saved

One of the most obvious parallels between Jonah and Jesus is the sojourn of three days, one in the belly of the fish, and the other in the bowels of the earth. On the third day, the fish’s digestive system was sick of Jonah, , and God’s wrath was satisfied with Jesus, , so that they both emerged from their cages.

1A. Concerning Jonah:
“So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.” (Jonah 1:15 ESV)

1B. Concerning Jesus:
“And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.” (Matthew 27:31 ESV)

But still there are differences, many more than I will mention. The sailors tossed Jonah as a last resort. The soldiers nailed Jesus with delight and a sense of entertainment. The sailors are seeking to appease an angry God. , The soldiers are seeking to please the maddening crowd , of religious leaders.

2A. Concerning Jonah:
“Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.” (Jonah 1:16 ESV)

2B. Concerning Jesus:
“And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”” (Mark 15:39 ESV)

In the wake of Jonah being thrown overboard, and Jesus being crucified, there is an awareness of a sea change, so to speak. The storm ceases, the veil is torn; the sun comes out, and the sky grows dark. The sailors, all of them, , in the calm after the storm, worship God. And the truth dawns on the centurion, all alone, in the darkness, as he witnesses the death of the Lord of glory.

3A. Concerning Jonah:
“And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17 ESV)

3B. Concerning Jesus:
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40 ESV)

God “appointed” a fish for Jonah, a place of prayer, if not confession. And God prepared a tomb for Jesus. I confess I do not understand all that Jesus accomplished during his time in the tomb. Peter alludes to testimony given to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19), perhaps announcing the justice and righteousness of God in condemning sin and forgiving sinners. Jonah’s isolation found its focus in an individual humbling that failed to reach the standard of real repentance. Jesus’ burial sealed the successful sacrifice necessary for eternal salvation. Jonah’s emergence from the fish awarded him , a second chance. , Jesus’ appearance from the grave announced , a new creation. ,

So the Book of Jonah confronts us with a recalcitrant prophet, but also makes us think of the redeeming servant. And though we will never be redeemers, we may, by God’s grace, seek to be more like Jesus than like Jonah.

Jonah and Jesus (3)

Creating Confusion, not Clarity

(Jonah 1:11 ESV) “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?”

Jonah figures heavily into the predicament of the sailors (cf. Jonah and Jesus, 2). The sailors grasp something of this, but Jonah’s role contributes not to clarity of understanding, but rather confusion.

The are confused about their predicament, and they were also confused about the identity of the solution. As we clearly know from Scripture and from the teaching of Jesus, and what the sailors should have known from the prophet Jonah had he spoken for God as he should, their primary predicament was not a weather event, but the wrath of God. And the solution to the propitiation of the wrath of God was not something that they themselves could do, but something that must be done for them.

Jesus, contrary to Jonah, was clear, not confusing about the predicament in which mankind stands. One of his many sayings is: “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24 ESV)

(Jonah 1:12 ESV) “for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

Jonah was aware that his rebellious conduct was bringing its ugly consequences upon the sailors. At this point, Jonah could hardly stand in greater contrast to Jesus, since it is because of us (sinful humanity) that this great tempest came upon him (Jesus). We implicate others with the stench and stain of our sin. The consequences of our sin rarely, if ever, affect only our own selves. And our sins have had grave effects on the Servant of God, even as Jonah’s sins put the sailors in grave danger.

The sad fact of this story is that Jonah missed the opportunity to bring clarity, and instead brought confusion. The sailors thought that if they got rid of Jonah, they would get rid of their problems, as did those who crucified Jesus (“So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”” (John 11:47-48 ESV). In limited scope, they were correct. But they needed to be pointed to the Messenger of God who, in faithfulness to his mission, would bear away their sins. Instead they were confronted by a rebellious messenger who imported the consequences of his sin on them, and they could only throw him away to avoid destruction.

(Jonah 1:14 ESV) “let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood,”

Just about all the words of these phrases need to be reversed in order to come to clarity rather than confusion. Yes, there is the concern that we not perish (John 3:16), but not for “this man’s life,” but rather for our own sin. Innocent blood is not held against us, but rather, guilty blood was attributed to Christ (“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;” Isaiah 53:5 ESV). Due to the unfaithfulness of Jonah, many of the Gospel concepts and categories were present, but were hopelessly confused rather than clarified.

And so, when I am more like unfaithful Jonah than faithful Jesus, I also contribute to the confusion of those who are perishing. They will remain confused about the true nature of the problem, the true identity of the solution, and the way to find enduring calm in the eschatological tempest. If we would be more like Jesus than Jonah, then perhaps God would be pleased to use us to rescue the perishing.

Jonah and Jesus (2)

Aloof, or Alongside in the Storm

I am writing, once again, about Jonah and Jesus, not because they are so much alike, but rather, because they are so different. Let me say again that this study is convicting to me personally, not because I am so much like Jesus, but rather, because I am so much like Jonah.

Jonah is fleeing the mission of the God, and boards a ship to Tarshish. The Lord “hurled” a storm upon him (Jonah) and them (the captain and crew) that threatened to break up the ship. The crew resorted to desperate measures, even throwing the cargo overboard, in order to stay afloat. “But Jonah had gone below in the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep” (Jonah 1:5)

Jesus is fulfilling the mission of God, traversing the Sea of Galilee with his disciples when a “fierce gale” arises upon them. “The waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion” (Mk 4:37-38).

Jonah is himself the troublesome cargo, untouched by the sailors, and seemingly, himself untouched by their predicament. The sailors “touched” everything else, throwing it overboard, but it is not until later that the one final piece of cargo, Jonah, is thrown over, when they will find relief. At this point in the story, he is untouched by the sailors, and he himself is untouched by their problem, even as he is untouched by the peril threatening the sinful city, Nineveh. Jesus, on the other hand, is subject to the rising water in the boat. The detail in the text “the boat was already filling up” makes this conclusion reasonable. He is, indeed, touched by the rising water, even as he is touched by the needs of a sinful world. He is not the source of the problem, but rather of the solution, and he is not aloof, but alongside them in their predicament.

Jesus is so different from Jonah. The following trilogy of verses from Matthew highlights his compassion for people, even as the story of Jonah highlights his lack of compassion for such people. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36 ESV). “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14 ESV) “Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” (Matthew 15:32 ESV). We must ask ourselves if we are touched by the physical and spiritual needs of people, as Jesus is, or untouched, as was Jonah.

The sailors approach Jonah and say, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish” (Jonah 1:6). Similarly, the disciples awaken Jesus and say, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Ironically, the sailors approach the unconcerned prophet who is on the run from God, appealing to him to seek the concern of his god. The disciples approach their trusted teacher, who is himself God, and whose very presence is the signal of the concern of God, and accuse him of lack of concern. The contrast plays out as Jonah identies himself as a worshipper of “the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” Jesus, himself the creator of heaven, sea and dry land, simply speaks the words “Hush, be still,” and the storm abates. The disciples are afraid as they exclaim, “who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?”

When we operate in Jonah-like fashion, we do not fear whom we say we fear. We do not serve whom we say we serve. God’s love and compassion do not properly and adequately infect and motivate us. We are terrible witnesses to the reality of God. If we were follow the “mind of Christ” (Phil 2:5), our perspectives and ministries would be much different. Our regard for God would be accompanied by our presence among the very people that Jesus intends to save. We would be not aloof, but alongside. We would be not the source of their troubles, but an instrument in the solution. We would be willing to be immersed in their predicament, resting by faith in the persistent presence of our Lord who is able to simply speak the word and change the shape of the world.

Concerning Jesus, the author of Hebrews says the following: “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.” (Hebrews 4:15 ESV). Both Jonah and Jesus were asleep in their respective boats, but with amazingly different approaches to people, the one aloof, the other, alongside.

Jonah makes me think about Jesus, not because they are so much alike, but because they are so different.

What Is Baptism?

What is Baptism?

Baptism generally denotes the external, visible rite that demonstrates the spiritual reality of a believer’s identification with the Person and Work of Christ. Therefore, we often refer to “water baptism” to designate that which is external and visible. This helps to differentiate from “Spirit baptism,” which is the internal, invisible operation of the Spirit of God when He takes up residence in the believer’s life and incorporates him/her into the Body of Christ (Romans 6:3,4).

Who can or should be baptized?

Since water baptism points to a spiritual reality, only those who have experienced “Spirit baptism” should be baptized with water. Spirit baptism occurs in conjunction with a person’s spiritual birth, or regeneration, and in the experience of that person, is marked by repentance (turning from other saviors) and faith (turning to Jesus Christ as the only sufficient Savior). Therefore, only those who have placed personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and are willing to certify that faith publicly, will be baptized. Obviously then, in our understanding, it is improper to baptize infants, who have not placed personal faith in Christ, much less rejected other saviors in repentance.

How is baptism to be performed?

Bible scholars and theologians have argued about the mode of baptism for centuries. While there is good linguistic evidence for “to baptize” to mean “to dip, immerse,” I think the stronger argument has to do with what the external rite is intended to picture. Spirit baptism involves the new believer being “swallowed up” by the Spirit, taken over, in a large sense, and immersed in the Body of Christ. In a sense, the new believer is understood to be “wet all over, inside and out” with the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 12:13). Therefore, baptism by immersion best pictures the invisible, spiritual operation. This picture also fits well with what we are trying to say in baptism, that the new believer is identifying with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. When baptized by immersion, the new believer stands and affirms his/her faith in Christ in his death, is “buried” in the water, and rises again to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Also, since baptism is the visible testimony of a spiritual reality, baptism should be done publicly, as a testimony to a local body of believers, if possible (the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 being an exception), and comprises part of the “confession with the mouth” of the new believer (Romans 10:9,10).

What results from baptism?

Water baptism results in a believer being identified and accepted by a local congregation of believers, even as he/she has been identified and accepted by Christ by virtue of Spirit baptism. It is an early step of obedience that should lead to many other steps of obedience in the believer’s life, and serves as a reminder that, though we have no need to baptized over and over again, we do stand in need of continued association with, dependence upon, and filling with the Spirit as opposed to life lived in the flesh.

Solid Citizens for the Gospel

1 Peter 2:13 - "Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human authority."
(notes from the message)

Granted, no system is perfect, including our own.

Granted, leaders are sinners, and they often are cruel and/or corrupt

Granted, this system may abuse you personally, as Jesus’ government abused Him

Nonetheless, the Grace of the Gospel Shines in Submission

Not in lordship – co-opting government position to enforce one’s point of view. Christian politicians must be public servants.

Not in belligerence – opposing the government with legitimate concerns, but using ungracious means

Not best even in protest or resistance – though citizens hold these as rights. But if Christians use these rights, they must accompany their words by gracious actions consistent with the measures that they advocate.

Grace Shines in Doing Good

While temporal praise is arbitrary, doing good will shine as it is seen in the many-colored shades of kindness

Eternal praise is authentic, and, in addition, the glad-hearted doing of good produces both joy and peace

Am I a Solid Gospel-Citizen?

Solid Gospel-Citizens are not measured by their vote, nor are they measured by their political action

Submission is a constant theme for Solid Gospel-Citizens, rendering obedience to God-appointed authorities, even as they await God’s “kingdom” resolution.

Doing Good always outweighs talking politics. It is Doing Good that constitutes the praiseworthy expressions of obedience, kindness and service.

Virginia Tech

The killings at Virginia Tech give rise to the question: How can such a person (the killer) exist? But, in light of the Bible’s teaching on the seriousness of sin, a better question might be: Why are there not more such persons?

Samuel Bolton, a Puritan writing in the early 1600’s in England, gives some perspective as he writes about the mercy of God in giving the law which restrains sin, in “The True bounds of Christian Freedom” (Banner of Truth, 1964 (first published in 1645), p.79.

If God had not given a severe and terrible law against sin, such is the vileness of men’s spirits, they would have acted all villainy. The Devil would not only have reigned, but raged in all the sons of men.

And therefore, as we do with wild beasts, wolves, lions, and others, binding them in chains that they may be kept from doing the mischief which their inclinations carry them to, so the law chains up the wickedness of the hearts of men, that they dare not fulfil those lustful inclinations which are found in their hearts.

Blessed be God that there is this fear upon the spirits of wicked men; otherwise we could not well live in the world. One man would be a devil to another. Every man would be a Cain to his brother, an Amnon to his sister, an Absolom to his father, a Saul to himself, a Judas to his master; for what one man does, all men would do, were it not for a restraint upon their spirits.

Therefore we have cause to bless God that he has given a law to restrain transgression, that if men will not be so good as they should be, yet, being restrained, they become not so bad as they would be.

Who Is Watching?

Peter tells that two parties are watching (1 Peter 2:12). The “nations” or “Gentiles” are observing. And God is watching (day of visitation). We need to think about both of these from a Gospel perspective.

In Bible translations, the “Gentiles” are all those nations who are not Jews. They were, from an OT perspective, in large part, not the people of God. In the NT, since the Church is not identified with the Jewish people, it seems that a better translation is the “nations.”

In 1 Peter 2:9, the Church is called, among other things, “a holy nation.” The nations mentioned in v.12 then, are the “unholy” nations. The one has an interest in the holiness of God. The other has no interest in His holiness.

Now why is it that the nations are observing the lives and conduct of Christians? Normally, we don’t even notice, unless, of course, there is something interesting. That is, there is something distinctive, unique, or strange (as in “strangers,” 1 Pet 1:1).

1 Peter 4:4 says that the Gentiles, or nations, are “surprised when you do not join them” in their ungodly activities. There is a contrast in the lives of those without God, and those who are children of God. Other differences become apparent as we review 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 and Ephesians 4:17ff. In fact, I think it is a beneficial exercise to actually think what the contrast would be to the miserable conditions or ungodly behaviors mentioned in relations to the nations. For instance, in Eph 2: 1-4, they are described as:

Dead – we have been “made alive” (1 Pet 1:3)

They belong to “the course of this world.” We understand that the course has been changed “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3)

They have a prince (small “p”). We have a Prince (capital “P”) (I know that there are not caps in the original, but the little “p” only bruised His heel, while the capital “P” crushed his head (Gen 3:15).

They have a spirit. We have the Holy Spirit

They are driven by lusts. We are characterized by love for God and neighbor. (It strikes me as I write this how far we fall short, which is why the nations find us so un-interesting.

They are given over to self- indulgence. We are to be known for sacrificial service.

They are called “children of wrath.” We are children of mercy (1 Pet 1:3; 2:10).

The list then is continued in Eph 4:17-24:

They are characterized by sensuality. We are to be known for a spirituality that is due to the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Drunkenness is countered by a sobriety and seriousness that is taken up with eternal and ultimate issues.

Carousing and drinking parties that end up in disgrace are contrasted with gatherings in which grace is given and blessings are shared.

Abominable idolatries bespeak a continual search to find that which is worth living for – while Christians are linked and locked in to “the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom (He) has sent (John 17:3).

We are to be “a light to the Gentiles (or nations)” (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; Luke 2:32; Acts 13:47; 26:23). Our light is dim in that we have sunk to many practices that look suspiciously like the nations who do not know God. We aren’t all that interesting.

The second point is that God is “visiting” or “overseeing.” Jesus, in 1 Peter 2:25, is called “the Shepherd and Overseer (or Guardian) of our souls.” He is watching.

But many people have erroneous views of God’s oversight. Some think that He is watching, waiting to pound us when we mess up. But they miss the all-important point that, in Christ, we are “accepted in the Beloved.” There are no paybacks for Christians. Our punishment has been meted out to Christ, and it found satisfaction in the righteous judgment of God. He is not watching us to catch us, but because He delights in us.

On the other hand, some view God’s interest in His children as inconsequential. They suppose that, now forgiven, they should give no thought to what God thinks of their conduct. This is a denial of authentic faith. Faith in God is a dynamic presence in the life of a man that manifests itself in expressions of faith, one of which is fear and love for God. Luke 12 reminds us that if God has His eye on the sparrow, then He certainly will observe and care for His children far more.

We sometimes live as though no one is watching, neither the world around us, or God. We live as though there is nothing or no one to life for. How can we miss the point so badly?

The Cure for a Sick Soul

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1Peter 2:11 ESV)

When we go to the medical doctor for examination or surgery, he can find our brains, but she cannot repair our minds.

When the doctor opens our chests to do surgery on the heart, he is unable to do anything about our character.

When we receive a physical, there are no reports given on the state of our souls.

The Bible diagnosis for man in general is that we have great sickness of soul.

Mankind tends to ignore the soul, and thus to misunderstand the most weighty issues of life. Mankind places great emphasis on what the Bible calls the flesh. They may speak of human nature, human condition, wholistic health, etc. – but when considered apart from God, man is flesh – independent and temporary; willful, but weak.

The soul, in Biblical language, is the organ for relationship with God. When God formed Adam (Gen 2:7), he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man, a-dam, became a living soul – a creature made to correspond with the Creator in faith and fellowship.

But a dead or dormant soul does not have faith. We cannot enjoy fellowship with God with a captivated or collapsed soul. And it is not only God who desires your soul, but also the devil (1 Pet 5:8).

I am going to allow the context of 1 Peter 2:11 to control our thinking about the soul. In addition to the reference to “soul” in our text, Peter also refers to the soul in 1:9; 1:22, and 2:25.

Nothing to Look Forward to

1 Peter 1:9 speaks of “the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This is followed, after a brief (but important) aside in vv. 10-12, with the admonition to “set youre hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (v.13). A sick soul has nothing to which it can look forward.

A sick soul has no dream of a future revelation (v.13), but is instead stuck in the present or perhaps the past. A sick soul has no sense of the holiness (vv. 15-16) of God which is above, beyond and behind all that we can see with our senses. The sick soul is then unable to respond to God with a proper fear (v. 17) that is due Him. He is left, by default, in the futility (v. 14) of a short-sighted, mortal and mundane existence.

Nothing to Act as Its Guide

The soul, by God’s gracious revealing, is broken free from its prison of blindness and ignorance to a whole new kind of life. This new life includes a consecration to God (1:22) which frees us from self-indulgence. God is gracious in that He has given our souls a guide in what is a trackless wilderness of life for those who are sick of soul.

This guide for the soul directs toward self-sacrifice rather than self-indulgence. We are to practice a brotherly kindness which is strenuous and which arises from only the purest of motives (v.22). Further, this kind of energetic direction does not allow for the crippling distractions mentioned in 2:1. These are to be put away so that our lives, as living stones (2:5), might be properly aligned with the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ (2:4,6). He is the Guide for our lives, and the Director of our souls.

Word studies lead toward to Biblical illustrations. The first is Joseph (Gen 39:8-9), who, in submission to his master and allegiance to God, endured false accusation and affliction. The second is Moses, recorded in Hebrews 11:24-26, who “refused,” “chose,” “considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” These men had a guide from above that remained unaffected by the circumstances taking place here below.

No One to Look Up to

Jesus is called by Peter the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (2:25). For those with sick souls, we have no one to look up to. For those who are wandering, their goal must be to either remain anonymous in the room, or strive to be the biggest person in the room. And when I try to “enlarge” myself, I cannot admit to a Leader or a Captain. But Jesus is the one who has blazed a path for us, “leaving you an example” (v.22). He suffered and died, and now serves as the One to whom we look (Heb 12:2), the Author and Finisher of our faith, for those with souls that are being healed.

The Cure for a Sick Soul is not education for our ignorance, but rather God’s gracious revealing of things that we cannot see with our eyes. The Cure is not moral improvement in order to overcome self-indulgence, but is rather the Call to become part of something that is bigger than us and our private dreams, and that will last eternally longer than a temple made with stone. The Cure for my soul is not heroism, unless that means that I finally find in Jesus what I can never be in myself.

Strong and Courageous

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Perhaps this is the message that the Church of Jesus Christ needs more than any other: “Be strong and courageous.” If this is indeed the needed message, why?

Because the Church is weak, and we are weak for a number of reasons. Our strength comes from the Lord, and yet the Church insists on trying to find its strength in the world’s wisdom and strategies. Our first reflex is to consistently imitate the behaviors of business in terms of planning and management and marketing, as opposed to the key behaviors of the Church, which are prayer and careful and thoughtful obedience to the Word.

Why is the needed message “Be strong and courageous?” Because we are afraid. No, not with a fear of the Lord, but afraid of the world. Afraid of being different and of falling out of favor. Afraid of risking our prosperity and afraid of being considered irrelevant.

Ironically, our fear of these very things actually ensures that we will lose the things to which we want to hold. The world wants nothing to do with a church that is not different and only acts to curry favor. The church cannot secure its own prosperity, and if it does secure financial gain, it is instantly in danger of spiritual impoverishment. A church that seeks to find its fit with the world becomes by definition “irrelevant,” since the church is not to act as a mirror for the world, so that when the world looks at us, it only sees itself. Rather, the church is to serve as a reflection of God as revealed in His Son. And we cannot at the same time reflect both, just as we cannot both seek God’s favor and the world’s. It is time to “be strong and courageous.”

Jonah and Jesus (1)

Appointments Broken and Kept; Mission Aborted and Fulfilled

I am writing about Jonah and Jesus, not because they are so much alike, but rather, because they are so different. Let me say at the beginning that this study is convicting to me personally, not because I am so much like Jesus, but rather, because I am so much like Jonah.

Both Jonah and Jesus are sent “from the presence of the Lord” (1:3,10). This is a difficult concept in view of God’s omnipresence. After all, where does the presence of the Lord start and stop? The phrase describes not so much one’s location as one’s relation to God’s mission. And here we find a key to the difference between Jonah and Jesus: Jonah left the presence of the Lord in order to “flee” mission; Jesus left the Father’s glory in order to “fulfill” mission.

The reader of this little narrative describing the recalcitrant prophet must grapple with the issue of how we ourselves avoid God’s mission. “Fleeing” can be translated in our lives as avoiding the glare of God’s expectations, isolating one’s self from that which is unpleasant and distasteful, distracting oneself with any number of pursuits (which may better be called “flights,’ as in “fleeing,” rather than “pursuits,” which denotes some kind of legitimate engagement). For whom would God have me pray today? With whom would God have me share both spiritual and physical blessings with which I have been favored? To whom would God have me speak words of grace and truth? What stands in the way of my involvement in these engagements? Is it the attitude of the reluctant priest and the recalcitrant prophet? Is the story of my life one of flight, avoidance, isolation, evasion, and distraction?

We happily enter into debates both great and small about issues of divine sovereignty and human freedom. This story displays for us the amazing amplitude that God allows in His servants – His servants who willfully refuse to serve. God commands the weather, and it instantly responds. God appoints the fish, and it does His will? He appoints the plant, and the scorching wind, and they instantly appear? But Jonah – he disappears.

Jesus is so different from Jonah. “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7,8). “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15). “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:43). Jesus left the throne room of heaven in order to fulfill and accomplish the appointed mission. Jonah removed himself from before the face of God in order to flee and avoid the appointed mission.

Ultimately, Ninevah’s fate was not bound up with Jonah’s faithfulness. It was secured by God’s amazing mercy which brought about a miraculous repentance in that great city. The fate of our families and churches likewise are not fettered by our own feeble faithfulness, but with Christ’s perfect fulfillment. But the call of God remains. And the questions still stands: will I flee from the mission in Jonah-like fashion, or will I fulfill its call as a faithful follower of Jesus.

Jonah prays in 2:4: “I have been expelled from Your sight.” It is perhaps impossible to discern what is faith and what is fake in this prayer. Is Jonah saying that, having fled from the face of God, it is now God’s fault that there is great distance between them? Or is there a great truth, that when I avoid the mission that God has placed upon my life, that there will necessarily be a break of fellowship with God. Somehow, it seems that God allows us to do what we want, and then brings to bear the consequences that we ourselves have chosen. “I have been expelled,” and that is pretty much what I wanted, though it looks a little uglier right now as fish food than it did when I was on a cruise ship.

Jesus prays in Matt 27:46, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Was Jesus expelled from the presence of God? Yes. Was it because he was fleeing from God’s mission? No. Rather, he was expelled from God’s presence in the very fulfillment of God’s mission, as the sinbearer for a rebellious people.

Jonah makes me think about Jesus, not because they are so much alike, but because they are so different.

Treasure for Treasure

Comfort for Comfort

2 Samuel 12:3 uses our word for “special possession” of a pet, a little lamb, bought and nourished. We can relate, can’t we, nuts about pets as we are. There’s just something about the way a pet conforms to the shape of your lap, adjusting itself to you. And that’s how we are to be with God, adjusting our shape to Him.

But some of your pets are not quite that way. They are demanding, and they master you. You quickly find that you are the one adjusting to them, rather than the other way around. And that’s what we often do with God, in our minds at least, adjusting Him for our comfort.

For instance, some aspects of the being of God are uncomfortable for us. We struggle with His sovereignty, since it rubs hard against ours. We can fix that, right? Just adjust (g)od to what your sense of (g)od should be, and the pet is happy, even though the house is in ruins.

Good for Good

Malachi 3:17 refers to the son who is joined to the father’s inheritance by virtue of relationship. The son is his pride and possession. And the son seeks the good of the father. Sure, the son realizes that, since everything that the father has will one day be his, when he serves the father, he is serving his own interests as well. But the interests of the father come first.

So the son does not ask, “what is good for me?” Rather, he asks, “what is good for the father?” He is not focusing on feathering his nest, but on serving the interests of the father.

We sometimes leave a church service and ask, “was it good for me?” “Do I feel better?” “Was I entertained?” We ask these questions in dozens of life situations. But shouldn’t the question be, “was it good for God?” Isn’t He the Father to be served, even as we realize that the path to an experience of indescribable goodness leads first through “seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33).

And the father, says Malachi, has compassion on the son who serves him. God delights to shower love upon His children as they serve the interests of their Father.

Treasure for Treasure

Matthew 13:44-45 speaks of men, one finding buried treasure, the other finding a pearl of great value. One goes and buys the field in order to have the treasure. The other sells all he has in order to obtain the pearl.

We are God’s treasure. That’s what our verse, 1 Peter 2:9, and our phrase, “a people for His own possession,” indicates. And He has “bought the field” and “sold all he had” for us. And we are to reach out to him like two-year-olds when daddy comes home, and treasure Him.

Our world is full of so many lonely people who do not have the experience of being treasured by God. They may have many comfortable, good treasures. But they are still empty. Why in the world would we trade this blessing of being God’s treasured people for mere bubbles?

Priests with a Royal Bearing; People with a Holy Calling

The Spirit guided Peter to write “royal priests” in 1 Peter 2:9 (adjective followed by verb), quoting from Exodus 19:6, the LXX (Greek), not the Hebrew. In Revelation 1:6, John quotes the same verse, but evidently from the Hebrew, which shows two nouns, “a kingdom and priests.”

Why? I think it fits with Peter’s point, which is that we are priests with a royal bearing, rather than kings with some added priestly duties. After all, Peter has made clear right at the beginning that we are outsiders, sojourners, and he will do so again in 2:12. We are related to the King, but we do not live life here as kings. We are servants, priests.

A priestly people is a little strange. From the Old Testament, we are used to have a priestly class within the people. Isn’t that what pastors are supposed to do today? Peter doesn’t think so. We all are priests.

Priests are blood-spattered. In New Covenant terms, this certainly does not involved animal sacrifice. But it certainly does involve Christ’s sacrifice. We show our blood-sprinkled (1:2) condition when we do two things: when we think often of our sin; and when we think often of our Savior.

When we emphasize how good we are, either trying to convince ourselves or others, we are not functionging as priests, or as Christians. One of the key differences between non-believers and believers is that the former often work hard at justifying self, while the believer finds his/her justification in Christ. The one covers and excuses sin and sins; the other confesses sin(s) and hates that which caused the death of Christ. If you are unaware of any struggle with sin, then I wonder if you even have a Savior.

Priests also are teachers of the ways of God. They take the hand of God with one hand, and the hand of man with the other, and seek to see them reconciled in Christ. If I let go of God and embrace man alone, I am no longer functioning as a priest. And if I forget about men and isolate myself in God, I also am no priest. Priests are continually concerned with a right relationship with God, for themselves, and for others.

Remember, we are priests, with a card in our wallet or a truth in our hearts that we belong to the King. We are not kings who practice religion on the side.

The other term under consideration is “holy nation.” The Greek word transliterates to a kind of “ethnicity,” leading me to think that this is about a distinctive group of people (as in the first term, “chosen race,) in whom an appreciation and hunger for holiness is evident and obvious.

God’s holiness speaks of His “otherness.” He is, so to speak, “out of this world.” That is, this world cannot contain Him, nor even describe Him, because He stands apart in key ways from anything that is known in the world or by the world. For God’s people to know God, they have, in a sense, their “head in the clouds,” not in the sense of being aloof, but rather, they can see or sense horizons that are beyond what we see and experience in this physical world. His holiness is not to be profaned, that is, made common or coarse. He is not ordinary. We should not treat Him, or His name, as such.

Of course, holiness also includes a concern of moral purity. It is the desire to see reflected in human terms what it means to be pure. We are not animals, and we are not to live like animals. The image of the holy God has been impressed upon us, though far from distinct as it once was.

In the OT, we were acquainted with the idea of holy “territory.” The burning bush, Mt. Sinai, the Tabernacle, the Temple, the Holy of Holies – had borders and boundaries. This seems to no longer be the case. The “holy nation” scatters with itself the holiness of God throughout the world. Our own “otherness” and striving for purity; our appreciation of the eternal dimension sets us apart, for God.

We are accustomed to driving past small towns or driving into large cities and seeing the spires of churches, pointing to heaven, reminding us that there is a God. This may be an excellent architectural feature, but it is not what God designed as testimony to His holiness. Rather, he is forming a people with a high calling, a holy nation, to point the world to a God that they do not know.

Gene Selection

(1 Peter 2:9, “a chosen race”)

Racism is a highly charged subject in our society. We struggle with properly admitting that there are different “kinds” of people, and then with ensuring that all “kinds” of people are treated equitably.

The Bible also speaks of “kinds.” It is the prerogative of God to establish kinds of plants (Genesis 1:11-12), and kinds of people (Gen 11). In the Bible, a “race” of people seems to designate a line of descendants from a particular father. Part of the reason for this may be because God delights in variety.

So when God chooses to designate “a chosen race,” He does so by selecting out Abraham to be the father of a new people (Gen 12). A major reason that God chooses is that He desires to accomplish His wider purposes (blessing all the families of the earth) through His particular choices (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob). Over time, this people is redeemed by God from slavery in Egypt, and formed into a covenant people at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-24). They are to be characterized, as was their father, Abraham, by a strong attachment to and dependence upon God (Deuteronomy 10:12-22). This distinctiveness of people, if not strong attachment and dependence, continue even into the captivity, where the apocryphal addition to Esther speaks again of the distinctiveness of God’s chosen race: “For Almighty God hath turned to joy unto them the day, wherein the chosen people should have perished.” (Esther 16:21 KJVA)

Again, “race” in the Bible speaks of a distinctive “kind” of people, descendants of a common father. Peter seems to show this in advance of 1 Pet 2:9 with his comment in 1:17, “and if you call on Him as Father, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.” We are a chosen race if we have in common this heavenly Father.

Let me make three points of application with illustration:

1. Until we fully embrace our identity as a part of God’s chosen race as obedient children, we will never make sense of the Christian life. We continue to be painfully aware of racial differences as determined sociologically, but painfully unaware of the kind of distinctiveness that ought to be honored and preserved as God’s people. We show this in our marriage patterns, where more consternation arises from the joining of people with different skin color than does the joining of two people whose spiritual fathers are antithetically opposed to one another.

2. Until we accept our God-given place as God-redeemed outsiders, elect exiles (1 Pet 1:1), we will never adequately proclaim His praises. When Muslims become our next-door neighbors, we wonder what “they” are doing “here.” But Peter’s truth expressed several times is that they are not the outsiders; we are. We are the aliens, the strangers, the sojourners who are seeking to share our way of life with the insiders of this world. We are not to resist the infiltration of “different” people into our cocoons. We are, by race, the infiltrators.

3. Until we understand that we are no more “children of men,” but rather “children of the Heavenly Father,” we will not experience our greatest comfort. Others have no Father like ours. By comparison, it is as though all the world is orphaned, going to bed at night untucked with no story told and no prayers prayed. But we have a Father who never leaves us alone. What a blessed comfort to be a chosen race that can rightfully claim to be “children of the heavenly Father.”

Faith’s Friends

The subject of faith can be difficult. What does it mean to “have faith?” Perhaps we can learn from faith’s friends.

Faith and Grace are not equal partners. God shows gracious initiative in setting the table for us and in providing the meal. Faith’s role is to simply “taste” the Lord’s goodness (1 Pet 2:3) in his person and in his provision for us. Faith savors what God provides. Faith is not even responsible for the digesting of divine delicacy and its conversion to spiritual energies. God’s sanctifying grace accomplishes that as well. Faith simply savors (Eph 2:8,9).

Faith and Repentance are never-failing friends. If faith is an open-handed acceptance of the gifts that God graciously provides, then repentance is the emptying of the hands in preparation for the reception of the gift. To go back to the earlier illustration, to come to God’s table already made full by the junk food shoved down our throats by the world and greedily gobbled up by our own lusts is to preclude the experience of tasting God’s goodness and grace. There is no hunger for God without repentance. We are more apt to pass out into a sated stupor, or to be sick. Faith’s friend, repentance, is our turning from what is cheap to what is priceless, the forerunner of faith in our lives (Acts 20:21).

Faith and Love are never strangers. When Paul looks for evidence of faith in the lives of believers, he looks for love – love for God, and also love for others (1 Thes 3:6). For a self-centered and preoccupied person to claim faith is to make a statement that can be supported by no evidence. Faith in our lives, the savoring of the goodness and grace of God, becomes a dynamic force, through the operation of the grace of God, that will most definitely result in loving activity.

Faith and Works? We often think of these as enemies, since faith is not a work, and we can work to earn our salvation (Rom 4:5). But, having faith, we must expect that faith will work – because it is not a static force, but a dynamic element in our lives – as Paul says, faith working in love (Gal 6:5).

No Faith? Then you are missing out on faith’s friends as well. The absence of faith reveals a want of grace. The diminishing of faith’s vibrancy points to a desertion of the hard by happy work of repentance. Faith without love is mere marketing, and faith without works, as James reminds us (Jas 2:26), is dead.

Why Do People Stumble Over Jesus?

“A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1Peter 2:8 ESV)

We stumble over things that we do not see. People stumble over Jesus because they do not see him. People stumble because they do not see the beauty of Jesus.

Some people do not see him because they are distracted. In chapter 2, Peter quotes Isaiah 28, describing the northern kingdom, distracted by their prosperity. People today, prosperous as we are, find themselves generally distracted. In fact, the busier we are, the more healthy lives we think we are living.

Our lives are filled with beautiful and attractive things. They attract our attention to the degree that we cannot see the most beautiful thing ever presented to humanity, Jesus. If only we could stop and think, and answer the penetrating question – what is really important? What will last for eternity?

We need to learn to ask people questions that stop them in their tracks. What do you think God is like? Really? What do you think God thinks of you? Could you take the time to find out what He is really like, and what He really thinks?

Some people do not see him because they are misdirected. They are looking for something else. And so they miss Jesus. Two stories can help us with this.

Saul/Paul held a vision of religion that was pleasing to God that excluded Jesus. Keeping the Law was central, and faith in Christ was leading many Jews away from the “beauty” of Judaism. He hated Christians and their way of life. But on that road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul, and all of a sudden, God caused Paul to see the beauty of Christ (Acts 9). And his life was changed. He no longer stumbled over Jesus. He embraced him.

For years, even centuries, the Temple was the place where God’s people, Israel, could meet with their God. Never mind that Temple-worship was compromised by Roman government, Herod’s crooked benevolence, and priestly political compromise. The Temple was central. But the apostles, confronted by the risen Lord, realized the significance of Jesus’ words, that the Temple would be destroyed, and that they would be build around him, the Living Stone (1 Pet 2:4) as living stones (2:5).

Stories can help people see a reality that has been invisible to them to this point. The Bible is one, grand, dramatic story filled with many smaller stories. Jesus told stories, parables to help people see his beauty.

We need to listen to the stories of the Bible to have our own view of reality shaped and re-shaped. We need to be able to relate stories to people stumbling over Jesus, that they might see him for the first time.

Some people do not see him because they are disobedient. The testimony of the prophets, from whom Peter draws (Isaiah 8) is that God’s people consistently rejected light. It seems to be one of the ways of God that, when we choose our own way, he allows us to have what we say we want. Romans 1 shows this three times (24,26,28), that when man rejected God’s way, He “hands them over” to the consequences of their actions.

So if people reject the light of God’s beauty, why should God favor them with the beauty of Christ? If people prefer darkness, why not allow them to stay where they want to be?

And so, if the light of the beauty of Christ has become evident to you, do not be so wicked as to turn your back on him? And do not presume that, if that light is available to you today, that it will be tomorrow.

As we talk with people who are stumbling over Jesus out of disobedience, we must warn, and confront. God issues a summons through His witnesses: “Repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” And for believers, we also must pay full attention to the warnings. Do not allow sin to cloud the beauty of Christ in your life.

I Will Build My Church

According to 1 Peter, God takes the initiative. He gives us birth that allows us to love and believe in Jesus (1:3, 8); He plants the seed that has its fruit in it (1:23); He builds the Temple, the residence of His glory, by incorporating people like you and I, living stones, which, by the way, are practical impossibilities apart from His initiative (2:5).

We believe in this God, but we also show by our practice that we believe something else. The initiative of yesterday may belong to God, but the initiative of today belongs with us, with me. We read and write books, we attend and conduct training seminars, and we build like the Babelites (Gen 11), constructing our human significance, demonstrating our own importance and success, because, of course, we are the initiators of all good things that really matter. Good ideas. Great plans. Monumental projects.

We have growing confidence in technological manipulation – even to create life. God is the author of life, but we are learning how to produce it without him, though confronting us with haunting ethical issues. We contribute unceasing energies to a management control that will leverage better results this year than last, pressuring the perishable seed (1:23) to see what can be wrung from it, and leaving behind bruised and burned-out casualties. We tear down our barns to build bigger ones (Luke 12:18), hoping that that the bigger church building will compensate for the disciples’ immaturity, or the bigger house will make one feel better about the family’s dysfunctionality.

But being practically involved in God’s temple has not only to do with recognizing God’s initiative in its construction. It also demands that we be properly aligned with God’s select Cornerstone, Christ. The question is really not, “Do I feel good about myself” but "Is my life correctly aligned with Jesus Christ?” That question is more difficult than merely saying, “Follow Jesus.” Due to the distance caused by centuries and cultures, let alone sin and selfishness, we often have a hard time answering how it is that we are to align our lives with Christ.

And so when we face “life” questions, we tend to take the initiative and resort to our most trusted resources. They are doctors, psychologists, financial advisors, and school counselors. Most have no regard for God, or your faith, or the Cornerstone. They advise according to their own faith – faith in science, or faith in proven principles of (temporal) investment, or the secret of happiness as found in prescription drugs.

Does science, medicine, etc., have a role? Of course. We ought to thank God for what has been learned about how His creation works. But these things must be applied spiritually. They will not – they cannot – be applied spiritually by these people alone.

Our present and usual course of actions denies a practical faith in God. Our handling of life’s biggest and most painful issues denies full confidence in pursuing Christlikeness (Hebrews 3). We shortcut the Spirit’s guidance in our lives by resorting to other guides who will not direct us to the Cornerstone or give God His due.

How do we expect the Spirit to work? Through God’s Word. And how is God’s Word brought to bear upon one’s life? Through reading, study and meditation. Have you submitted yourself to that kind of investment in God’s Word? Also, through various individuals’ teaching of the Word. But also through the discernment of life issues as evaluated in light of Scripture and as lovingly handled by trusted Christian brothers and sisters.

God’s House is built upon the Cornerstone, and with many living stones. The Christian life is not to be lived alone, but in community. We find our proper alignment with the Cornerstone by the help of other living stones, other believers who are handlers of God’s Word and bearers of God’s Spirit, (being) equipped to hear and to help.

Is there another believer whom you trust? Are there others with whom you could share your heart, and allow them to ask questions, and understand? The sad reality is that many of us are more likely to reveal our doubts, questions and hurts to an unbeliever. Is it because we don’t really believe in God, we don’t really care about Christlikeness, and we simply cannot trust the Spirit to use other believers spiritually in my life?

What God builds will last forever, for His glory. What is built without faith (Hebrews 11:6) and apart from Him (John 15:5) will be destroyed, to our shame.

Spiritual Application

I’ve used my paint illustration before to try to describe the Trinity. This illustration has not been widely publicized, which has spared it being justly criticized.

The Father conceives a color. Think of a color that has never before been painted. You can’t. We may mix and match and “arrive” at a color, but we cannot say, “I am thinking of a color that does not exist.” God can. Not only does He create it. He also names it. Let’s call this new color “grace.”

The Son embodies the color. The name of the color and the description of the color (“it’s kind of like x, but not exactly”) cause us difficulty. We need to see it if we are to know it. We had never before seen or experienced “grace” until we saw it in Jesus.

The Spirit applies the color. For those who come to see “grace,” appreciate its beauty and love its lustre, there is the desire to bring it within one’s own space or room, into one’s own life. The Spirit takes the grace of Christ from its vessel (Jesus himself) and distributes it, applies it, paints it in and on our lives.

So what is Spiritual Application?
We call it sanctification. It is the process by which the Spirit of God renovates and redecorates the lives of believers so that they, more and more, reflect the beauty of the character of Christ.

It was never God’s intent to keep grace contained. God has appointed this work of the Spirit. And we know that we are to be involved in seeking Christ and the reflection of His character weekly in each message and daily in each devotion.

Mud Wrestling

My sermons are not pretty. The outlines are often fragmented and easily forgotten. The framework that is supposed to make clear the text is crooked and decrepit. The force of the argument is often lost in a preoccupation with a concept or an image.

As I spend my week in the text of Scripture, I feel like I’ve been mud wrestling. My insights are all smeared and gritty, and my notes are half-erased by the struggle and the search. By the time I enter the pulpit on Sunday, the page has surrendered to oblivion, and I am left to share my impressions and convictions.

You’ve got to admire the national preachers who can present their material so neat and tidy. They are a joy to listen to. They give you confidence that they have it all figured out, and they also give you assurance that, if you do these three things, you also will make significant progress. It’s why church can be fun, and Bible conferences can be entertaining.

I’m not buying it. The text isn’t that neat, and neither is the Christian life. The truth is, as we approach the text, we are a mess, and the text only exposes the mess for what it is. We seek to understand, to believe, to obey – and at the end of the day, there’s still mud in our eyes.

I could try and pretend. Forget it. Everyone knows that when you go to a mud wrestling event, it’s going to get ugly.

Survivors (Joel 2:32)

In a way, we are all survivors - that is, if we, indeed, survive.

All of us, believers and unbelievers, are beneficiaries of the grace of life. Common grace sheds abroad God’s goodness on us all.

As believers, we have been grabbed hold of by God’s redemptive grace. He graciously takes the initiative and reverses our destiny by replacing our hearts. We are blessed with Holy Spirit insight into God’s Word, and Holy Spirit presence in our hearts and lives.
So in what sense are we survivors?

We are survivors from our sin. Another word used commonly alongside “survivor” in the OT is “escapee.” We are not survivors because of our own fortitude, but escapees because of the daring rescue accomplished by God. But we are survivors nonetheless.

More importantly in Joel’s prophecy, we are survivors of the prosperity that we enjoy.

Surprisingly, not a single sin is mentioned in the Book of Joel. The people were being judged, but all that is mentioned is the loss of God’s blessing in their lives. The text does not identify the one or many sins that brought God to focus His displeasure and withhold (1:13) the basic lubricants (wine and oil) for gladness and joy (1:16).

The problem that occasioned the punishment was a dreadful disconnect between the blessings of God, and ... God. The people were enjoying their good times, but they failed to enjoy their good God. They thought that their pleasurable existence could be savored independently from their Savior. They were wrong. God took it away.

He sent the locusts - gnawing, swarming, creeping, and stripping locusts (1:4). They consumed all that was green. The people lost their blessings. God gained their attention. And the people repented (2:12-14, the pivot point of the book). Now, perhaps God would restore the tools of worship which he had previously been withholding.

The people survived. But they survived not only their sin - they survived their prosperity. And I wonder, will we?

Two phrases surround the reference to “survivor” in 2:32: “whoever calls’ at the beginning of the verse; and “whom the Lord calls” at the end of the verse.

What does it mean to be a survivor? To remember to call on the Lord in the busyness that our prosperity demands, and to hear the Lord’s call above the noise that is the constant by-product of our celebrations.

How do we live Spiritually in a Material world?

How do we live Spiritually in a Material world? Although the word “spiritual” is currently being used in many strange and plastic ways; and although we are severely impacted by a materialistic way of life, we must pursue the Bible’s teaching. Peter addresses this subject in the beginning of 1 Peter 2.

First, Let’s think through the issues in Trinitarian fashion (1. Spirit; 2. Father; 3. Son). Along the way, we will grab hold of some of the images involved (1a, 2a, 3a). Finally, I will suggest some practical expressions of spiritual living (1b, 2b, 3b).

1. To live spiritually must surely have to do with the Spirit. We are being built into a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrificies (1 Peter 2:5). What this means is that, in our relation with others (as priests have relation with others) we must be chiefly concerned, not with the material element of their existence, but with the immaterial; not with the temporal expression of their existence, but with the eternal. The eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14 ) would have us correspond with the souls of men and women.

1a. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, faced a decidedly unspiritual blindness. The religious leaders were fully cognizant of his humanity. But they could not see his divinity. And they hated him. Our inability to see people only from a fleshly point of view is similar. We are holding them in unholy disregard.

1b. Led by the Spirit, we are called to “love one another earnestly” (1 Peter 1:22). We are to love the souls of men and women, not because of their bodies or their appearance or their image, and not even in spite of what we see with our eyes of flesh. Rather, we are to love them regardless of their appearance.

2. The Father is the Giver of Life. He creates out of nothing. He consistently does the unlikely, and surprises with the impossible. As children of the Father, we do not plan his surprises, but we can expect to be surprised.

2a. Now what should we expect from a stone (1 Peter 2:4,5)? Well, if we consider only the stone, then we should expect very little. Stones don’t do much, which is why they make good boundary markers. But if we consider God who can make the stones cry out in praise of the Son (Luke 19:40 ), or if we look at stones as divinely appointed wombs from which children of Abraham may emerge (Luke 3:8), then we begin to look at dead entities with a sense of expectancy.

2b. Do I have the kind of faith in God that expects him to radically re-engineer the dead ends of life? My faith was not given so that I could tell God what to do, but it is given so that I might grasp what God can do. He can rescue a marriage from the rocks. He can raise a church from the dead. A key question is: Do I want him to? Lazarus’ sister objected, “Behold, he stinketh.” Sometimes it is easier for us to be done with dead entities. God doing the unlikely can end up being uncomfortable.

3. We come to Jesus (1 Peter 2:4), but it seems as though we often have little influence over others in getting them properly lined up with the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6). We know that we ourselves did not do the heavy lifting in securing our own relationship with him, so it would seem that there is little that we can do for others - Except that we act and serve “in Jesus’ name.”

3a. Matthew 10 mentions the “cup of cold water” offered to little ones. Quickly consumed. Easily spilled. Often forgotten. What good does it do? What about the salvation of our neighbors, or the return of our kids to the fold. We pray, in Jesus’ name.

3b. Sowing seed can be a wasteful activity. In the parable of the seed and soils, much is lost. I feel that way. Words are cheap, sometimes useless. They’ve heard it all before. They are accustomed to tuning out. Sometimes we wonder why we should bother. But we are to serve in little ways and we pray with hope that the redemptive activity of Jesus will be extended to the lives of the people to whom we serve and for whom we pray. And because of this hope, we do not give up. We continue on, in Jesus’ name.

So to be Spiritual – what does it mean? It means to be involved with the Spirit in love, with the Father in faith, and with the Son in hope. It means that we see people for their souls, that we dare to believe that God can and will again do what only God can do. It means that redemption still changes lives today, using weak and clumsy instruments to achieve his ends. This is at least a little bit of what it means to be spiritual in a material world.

Introduction to Discipleship

The word “discipleship” has a number of definitions and associations. But its closest cousin is a very important word in the Bible: disciple. If we remember that, we may avoid some of these problems.

Discipleship is not a program. When Peter and John were invited, no, summoned by Jesus to follow him as disciples, they were not recruited to subscribe to a program. They were called to live a whole new kind of life. The old life was left behind. The new life would be radically different.

Discipleship is not a class. Churches have often treated this subject almost like catechism. Now teaching the basics of the faith is important, but it is not discipleship. Because following Christ as a disciple includes not only what you learn, but how you behave. It is not just a mastery of facts and information, but it is being mastered by the Master.

Discipleship is not an option. It is not unusual in Sunday School to have electives. Discipleship is not one of these. One cannot say, “I would love to be a Christian, but I would rather not be a disciple.” A Christian is a believer who has been drawn into such a relationship with the Savior that he/she follows and learns, trusts and obeys as a disciple.

So what is Discipleship?
Discipleship is an involvement with Jesus along with other disciples of Jesus. It is not an individualistic exercise.

Discipleship is a commitment to other disciples of Jesus, encouraging them and holding them accountable in their walk with Christ.

The Immersed Life

We are an immersed people. We are soaked and marinated in our culture. As sinners, we are buried under the avalanche of sin. And, as believers, we are immersed in Christ, washed by his blood, and clothed with his righteousness.

We are Baptists. We immerse. We believe that this is a wonderful Gospel portrayal of the overwhelming truth of the forgiveness of sins. The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient to completely cleanse us from our sins. His identification with us was and is so complete, that no debt is left over, no punishment is yet due. Jesus paid it all.

But we desire to not only glory in the immersed life accomplished by justification, but also to experience the immersed life worked out in sanctification. How do I live the immersed life? How can I be so soaked in Christ that I am freed from my attachments to sinful patterns which are only encouraged by a godless culture?

I believe the answer is to live the Gospel - to be immersed in Gospel living. We need to learn what it means to be Gospel family members, and Gospel students, and Gospel employees, managers, bosses, and entrepreneurs.

It begins with sin. Jesus died for my sins. In my desire to be immersed in Christ, I will live “dead to sin” (Romans 6:3,4). We need to become much more serious about our playing around with this cancer in our lives. How can we ever expect the enjoy the blessings of the immersed life when, by our indulgence in attitudes and activities which condone carelessness with regard to sin, we treat Jesus’ sacrifice for sin as being trivial? The cross of Jesus was the decisive attack in the battle against sin and Satan, a war that continues to rage in our world, our culture, our homes, and in our bodies. Can we continue to behave as though we are at peace?

We must live “alive” to God. Wake up! Pay attention! Our God reigns! Stop living as though God does not exist! Talk to Him! Listen to Him! Seek His help in your recalcitrant heart. Submit to each prodding of His Spirit to listen, to learn, to lean on Him.

This is the beginning of the immersed life.

Taking the Weight Off

No, not another new year’s diet. This is about how we as a local church participate in the mission given by Christ to make disciples.

As I and others have wrestled with issues of fruit and faith, we have been forced to acknowledge a lack of both. And in that acknowledgement, we have been forced to go back to the Bible, and to ask what is involved in being faithful so as to develop fruitful disciples.

Our Sunday worship has been, by default, the primary component in our efforts to “make disciples.” It is not working. And I conclude that God never meant for it to work. The worship gathering is important, even essential; but the worship gathering is not sufficient to accomplish the work of disciple-making all by itself.

You and I need to cease expecting the worship gathering to “carry all the weight” of our spiritual growth. The worship gathering, and the ministry of the Word that takes place in these gatherings, in no way completes this week’s lesson. It actually only begins this week’s spiritual exercise.

How did we get here, to this condition of an out-of-proportion discipleship? There are probably many reasons. It’s partly the pastor’s fault, since Sunday is the focal point of his preparation. While that is true, and right, there is more to making disciples than this. Maybe it’s partly the deacons’ fault, for not leading into neglected areas of discipleship. And maybe it is partly the congregation’s fault, content to do what is easiest (sit) and feel congratulated for it. Nonetheless, discipleship demands that we distribute the weight of our energies to all that is needed for growth.

Has Such a Thing Ever Happened Before? Joel 1:2

We grow accustomed to certain patterns and cycles. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The work week and the week-end. The seasons and the holidays. Births, graduations, weddings, and funerals. We know what to expect. We go with the flow.
Every once in a while, something notable occurs. Has such a thing ever happened before? We turn to the elders, to the historians - what are we to make of this, that does not fit our patterns and cycles?

These disruptions may very well be gifts of God designed to interrupt our spiritual decline. The tremendous locust plagues that afflicted Israel were given for that very purpose. There is no question that the rare occurrence was not primarily a problem for agriculturalists, economists, and entomologists. The appearance of this enemy “like has never been before, nor will be again after them (2:2) was a divine signal calling for a spiritual response.

When our patterns and cycles are disturbed, do we ask the right questions? What is the source of our answers? Should it not be from the Lord, who will have his Day, and who works and moves to prepare us for that Day?

In our English translation of Joel’s prophecy, the locusts are mighty characters for the first chapter and a half. But the latter half of this book deals not with God’s before unheard of judgment, but rather of God’s never-seen-before revival. His mercies, which had been previously withheld (1:13) is now poured out in abundance, replacing desolation with abundance and distress with satisfaction. Whereas the people had never before experienced such chastisement, neither had they ever experienced such blessing.

Our lives are made up of cycles and patterns. But praise the Lord for His blessed interruptions, which bring both distress and comfort. May God be gracious to halt our spiritual decline, that we may see His glory as never before.

Eating Spiritually

We have already read about our need to breathe spiritually (On the Same Page). When we gather together, it is most often for our spiritual feeding.

I have been thinking and praying hard about how to properly feed people. To change metaphors, if the Bible is the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6), then I think we do a lot of sword waving. But a sword is not for waving; it is for cutting. We must get better at making application, so that the Word of God actually shapes our lives (by cutting) and causes growth (by digesting).

I think we tend to teach the Bible as though it is for old believers – for people who have heard it all before. We need to teach the Bible to new believers, as though we are hearing it for the very first time. I think you will notice significant change with regard to this on the coming Sundays.

If our worship and teaching gatherings are times of eating spiritually, then we all need to eat, to chew, and to swallow. It’s not much fun to come and watch one person consume what he has prepared. I want to watch you enjoy what teachers have prepared. Come hungry. Come ready to feast on God’s Word. You also have some preparation duties.

If we are going to eat spiritually together, then we shouldn’t be all spread out. You don’t take the cook’s food and go eat it in another room. We need worship that connects – that connects us to God’s Word, and to one another. I would love to rearrange this room. But until we are able, come forward. Sit close. We’re all in this together.

Consumed

The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men. (Joel 1:12)

What’s eating you? What is devouring your substance, destroying your soul, and sucking the juice right out of you? If we could identify what consumes us, we might be able to identify with the plight of the people in the Book of Joel.

We live in a consumer culture. We consume for a living. We consume at a rate that is both astonishing and alarming. But we are also afflicted by consumers. We are under attack from the locusts of life.

The vivid imagery of Joel’s prophecy allows the reader to both see and hear the locusts in their destructive advance. What is left behind is destroyed, consumed, and stripped bare. The basic toolsfor living and rejoicing, grain and wine, have been devoured.

Joel presents a story in which God is able both to take away the basic blessings of life, and he is able to pour them out again in abundance. Blessing does not depend upon excellent agricultural practices, at least immediately. This does not excuse sloppiness or laziness on the part of the farmer. But blessing depends primarily upon God. God controls the weather, and commands the locusts. It all has to do with God. And God responds somewhat predictably. When the people do evil, God sends evil. When the people do good, God sends good. We don’t know why God waits to send evil until he does, or if he will ever relent and send good again. But we find a basic pattern.

It is interesting that the people are called to come together several times in the prophecy. But they do not come together to make a plan to deal with the locusts. They come and say, “What are we going to do about God?” It’s not the system, and the players in the system, that must be addressed. Our problem with God must be addressed. We are led into repentance.

Why does God act this way? Why does he send the pestilence that disrupts our worship and upsets our family life, that brings our employment to a standstill and removes gladness and pleasure from experience? Because God knows that we are consumers, and if he withholds (1:13) from us the goods of our consumption, then we will have to pause and look up. And if his people will not be consumed with their God, then they will surely not consume his blessing.

What Israel experienced agriculturally, affecting every other aspect of their life, we experience spiritually, affecting every other aspect of our lives. We tend, however, to portray our afflictions psychologically instead of spiritually. For instance, we feel “burned out” rather than “burned up” (Joel 1:19). But because of being trained toward therapy, we want advice in adjusting ourselves toward ourselves. But if we would understand these concepts spiritually, then we would know that what we need is not adjustment toward self, but adjustment toward God. The text gives clear advice on how to do this, but that is for another time.

Warrior-Priest

I did not enter pastoral ministry out of admiration for the preacher on “Little House on the Prairie.” He, like many pastor figures portrayed on television, was a rather daft, clumsy character who had his fat dragged from the fire many times by the lead character of the show, Pa, who, by the way, had really great hair. We have come to picture the pastor/priest figure as passive, clueless, and misguided.

But there is another picture in the Bible. Whether it be Aaron’s running with his censer, taking his stand between the dead and the living to check the plague (Num 17), or Phinehas’ zeal in turning away God’s wrath by piercing the fornicators with a spear (Num 25), priests could also serve as God’s warriors.

My own definition of the function (don’t confuse this with office) of priest is one who serves by facilitating the relationship between God and man. Christ, as our high priest, is the ultimate fulfilment of this role. He goes to bat for God, speaking and serving honestly and truly, without compromise. And he goes to the mat for man, actually becoming the sacrifice that he offers for man’s atonement. He represents God to men, and he represents men to God. He fiercely battles the stubbornness of men’s hearts against God, and he bravely absorbs the wrath of God poured out against men. This is pictured graphically in Scripture by the sword: one which is thrust to his heart, confirming his death (Jn 19:34), and one which proceeds from his mouth, expressing his life and authority (Rev 1:16).

We, as priests (1 Pet 2:5), would do well to “cowboy-up” (to miserably mix metaphors). Whether we like it or not, we have a role in introducing God to man, and man to God, through the Gospel, that word which is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb 4:12). We need to engage in this activity with ferocity and bravery, even as we seek to serve like Christ, sacrificially.

Suffering Prophet

Classical theology has long referred to Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King. This provides a dependable and helpful outline to consider certain roles that Christ fulfilled. It occurred to me recently how strange these pictures are to us – or, how strangely we have come to construe these patterns. If we get these pictures wrong, we will have a faulty view of Christ. But we will also have a faulty view of our own discipleship, since we also are called to a fulfillment of these pictures, not in an ultimate sense, but functionally.

A Suffering Prophet
A prophet is a representative of some authority. He represents both in deed and in word. It would seem that a glorious authority would share his glory with his representative. In like manner, the scorn directed toward a despised despot would also be directed toward his prophet(s). We would have expected heaven’s representative to be highly revered. But because man is in rebellion against God, he actually responds with hostility against the Lord’s Christ, who is the perfect embodiment of the mind of God in both deed and in word, actually called “the Word” by John (1:1,14). We would expect God’s spokesman to have center stage, and to hold all people in rapturous attention. But we find Jesus on the edges of Galilean society, and only occasionally in the Judean Temple. He found little favor among the religious inner circle, though they claimed to know God’s word inside and out. But they proved that they did not when they rejected God’s living Word. Though charactized by surprising kindness and perceptive love, Jesus was hated. He was not what one would expect. He was the Suffering Prophet.

As you and I seek to accurately display the truth of the Gospel in deed and in word, we also should expect the same. People will not thank you when you kindly explain to them that they are sinners, and that they stand under God’s judgment nor when you make clear that they can not earn God’s favor, even though you are simply trying to relate the wonders of God’s grace. When you relate how you yourself have humbled yourself before God to receive the salvation that only he can give, they will often pity you and think you rather foolish. Aren’t we doing them a favor? That is not what we should expect.

Stay tuned for A Warrior Priest, and A Servant King.

Standing Aloof

“On the day that you stood aloof, … You too were as one of them. Obad. 11

Like me, what they did wasn’t all that bad. Though there were “strangers that carried off his wealth,” I didn’t do that. I didn’t steal. I took nothing that was not mine. And though there were “foreigners that entered his gate,” breaking and entering, that wasn’t me. I am not guilty of trespassing, of going where I do not belong. And though there were some who “cast lots for Jerusalem,” don’t lay that on me. I have no interest in them.

But the text is convicting. In standing aloof, “you too were as one of them.” It may not be so much what we do that convicts us. It may be what we don’t do.

One possible, positive response would be to stand up against that which is evil. That would certainly be in contrast to standing aloof. Be willing to protest. Speak up when you see a wrong. But let’s go a little further and examine this from a Gospel point of view.

With regard to wealth, the only real treasure is what God himself gives. The very best treasure is knowing God, a knowledge that God himself shares, and then sharing that knowledge of him. The greatest offense is not in carrying off wealth, but rather in hoarding it for ourselves. Though I do not take people’s money, I steal when I rob them of an opportunity to know God, when I stand aloof, and do not go to them with the Gospel.

With regard to trespassing, the definitions need to be reversed. I am not trespassing when I go visit my neighbor, just as he is not trespassing when he responds to an invitation to come over to my house. But I find myself guilty when I stay home alone, choosing my own isolation rather than interaction with needy neighbors, and when I prefer my own company to theirs. Trespassing is not the issue – but failing to make any kind of neighborly contact certainly is an issue.

Casting lots seems to be an effort to get what you can get. Take a chance. Maybe you will get lucky. But my responsibility is to sow seeds. I have not idea what will take root, what will spring up, or what will result in life that lasts forever. But I am a guilty soul when I fail to give what I can give, just as I would be guilty when I cast lots to get what I can get. And the first offense, having no interest at all, is at least as bad as the second.

I tend to look down on crooks. I think of myself as above them. And then this verse says, “you too (are) as one of them.”

Small Things

“Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
You are greatly despised.” (Obad 1:2 NAS95)

I normally look at promises as good things. But in this case, they are rather foreboding. “I will make you small.” There are at least a couple of others in the book of Obadiah that match the mood: “I will bring you down” (Obad 1:4 NAS95); “You will be covered with shame,”
(Obad 1:10 NAS95). Not good. And it is true, that these words are words of judgment on Edom, especially because of their treatment of Israel.

But I can also see a fulfilment of these words/promises by Christ. To the prince of the universe, God says, “I will make you small.” To the eternal Son, he says, “I will bring you down.” To the Glorious One, it is said, “You will be covered with shame.” Was it because he committed Edom’s sins. No. But because he bore Edom’s sins. He takes our punishment.

But here we must take another step. For as the apostles accepted Christ’s order of events - that is, suffering precedes glory - it seems that the church also must accept that same order. And so if Jesus was willing to accept these words as personal promises, then so should I. “I will make you small.” Insignificant. Invisible. Buried.

Being consigned to smallness renders conversation about size irrelevant. It’s a discussion from which you walk away. But smallness did not mark the end of Jesus’ ministry. It provided the context. Bethlehem. Nazareth. Galilee.

Philippians 2 offers a template of the Obadiah promises. Jesus left heaven’s glory for earth’s servitude. “I will bring you down.” Adoration will be followed by criticism. The audience of many will largely abandon him. One who had looked to him for guidance now betrays him to enemy soldiers. Should we expect any less? The leader will be lonely, not only because he is out front of the pack, but because the pack hates his guts. Crucify him.

Self-esteem must give way to God-esteem and Christ-esteem. Because once you are covered with shame, that self-esteem thing just doesn’t work very well. Not only do other people hate you; you hate yourself. You can’t stand to be you, living where you live, and doing what you do. But that is hardly the issue, is it? It is so much more about who God is, and where he makes his presence known, and what he wants to do.

2 Peter says “great and precious promises.” “I will make you small.” “I will bring you down.” “You will be covered with shame.” Am I sure that I want to be a follower of Christ?

Internal Speech

“(You) who say in your heart,
‘Who will bring me down to earth?’” (Obad 1:3 NAS95)

We say a lot of things under our breath, in our hearts. What we really, truly believe is contained more in this internal speech than in the public, churchy declarations of our faith. What will most influence our actions and reactions is this hidden world of thought.

Abraham is publicized in the Bible as the man of faith. But there was a time when he said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Gen 17:17 NAS95). The man of faith was afflicted with doubt.

Esau was committed to decency during the lifetime of his father. But “Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”” (Gen 27:41 NAS95). We can put on a nice face while holding hate in our hearts.

David embarrassed Michal. He was “acting the fool” due to his love for God, and she was more concerned with how his actions reflected upon her than upon God. And so, “she despised him in her heart.” (2Sam 6:16 NAS95). Maybe no one else knew, but do we really think it did not affect their relationship?

We think we can get away with secret sins. These types (and more) of internal speech fit the category. But they have an affect. They color how we hear and interpret God and his Word. They shade our view of ourselves and of others. They can be the voice of the enemy on our shoulder, whispering in our ear. And all the time we think it is our own enlightened sense doing the talking.

“You felt secure in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me,’
Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you;
For you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’”
(Is 47:10 NAS95)

I need to come to a place where I do not trust my own thoughts. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered.” (Prov 28:26 NAS95) I may very well be the worst liar I know, or what I find in my heart may be the mouthpiece for the worst liar that the world has ever known. “Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44 NAS95)

Justified

We’ve been asking people this past week, “What do you think God is like?” That has yielded some predictable, and surprising answers. But maybe a more thoughtful question is, “What do you think God thinks of you?”

Most people seem to think that God is kind and forgiving. But at the same time, I suspect a whole lot of people think God is mad at them. But that doesn’t make sense, does it? How can God be both kind, and mad at me? And here’s the point: our thoughts of God are a mess!

If people think God is mad at them, it is an evidence of God’s kindness in retaining in their sinful hearts a remnant of the truth. The holy God must, by nature, be angry at sin – and his wrath hangs over the heads of sinners. If he were not angry at sin, he would not be holy.

Man’s most pressing need is to be set right with God. We are at odds with God and with his holy character. We are in rebellion against God. We are his enemies. How can that situation be remedied?

A key word for our answer appears in our new memory verses: Justified. It means that, appearing before the bar of God’s judgment, we are represented by Christ, who has borne our sin and our sin’s punishment. Standing in or behind Christ, God declares us “not guilty” by virtue of Christ’s sacrifice.

Our relationship with God the Judge has changed. We no longer stand under his wrath. We are no longer regarded as rebels or enemies. We no longer need fear God’s anger.

Justification doesn’t change us – it changes our relationship with God. There are other words and concepts which describe the changes that occur within our hearts and lives – but this word – justified – is the verdict that brings relief to our fears and rest to our dread – and sets in motion a tremendous change in our attitude toward God.

Now we can’t wait to talk about God and what he thinks of us.

Blessed Be Me!

Peter begins his first paragraph, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It sounds like the right thing to say. It sounds Biblical, and churchy. We might all agree that it was the right way to begin a book of the Bible. We just don’t want to actually live that way.

The way that we want to live is, “Blessed be Me!” We want things to work out well for ourselves. We want to be assured of happiness, and to be able to attain success and to be recognized for it. We want our health to remain strong, our jobs to be stable, and our salararies to increase. We want our kids to be at the top of their class, and our property taxes to stay low. If all those things, and a few more, could be in order, then we would have the ideal conditions: “Blessed be Me!”

We think like this for at least two reasons. One reason is that we are taught to think this way by our culture. We live in a “me-first” world, and the combination of tremendous freedom and opportunity means that we can greedily pursue our own desires without guilt or penalty. In fact, such actions are rewarded and admired.

The other reason that we so easily continue in a “me-first” vein is because we are sinners. Sinners do not want God to be on the throne. We want the crown for ourselves. And though those who profess faith in Christ should find themselves in a daily battle with this sin and others, we have somehow accepted the myth that it is OK to re-verse the order of royalty in the world and re-write the Bible, so that instead of saying, with Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” we say “Blessed be Me!”, and scarcely give it a thought.

To those more sensitive than ourselves, we would be wary of such blasphemy, and fearful of the God from whom we are stealing glory. As John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

More than “Showing Up”

Our Sunday gatherings are extremely important. They are important because believers need to worship together. We need to be taught and trained. We need to be encouraged and warned. I believe that your participation in our Sunday gatherings is critical for your own spiritual lives, and for the mission of our church.

But our Sunday gatherings are not the most important part of your relationship with Christ or our church’s mission. Rather, it is how we relate to Christ through the course of the week, and how we represent Christ in all our relationships, and how we rest in Christ in all our difficulties – that’s what is more important.

Prayerfully, our times together on Sunday (and whenever else we may gather) help to prepare you (and our church as a whole) to live the resurrection life in a dying world. Whether we see the gathering of the church as a time of re-fueling, or of healing hurts, or as a vocational training center, teaching skills to be lived in the real world – we still must reject the notion that we have fulfilled our religious duty at noon on Sunday.

I confess that I have a problem in this area. I still notice who doesn’t “show up” on any given Sunday. And while the gatherings are critical, we need to find ways to get beyond mere attendance, and to find ways to be sure that you are prepared to live life.

Lord, I’m Committing this Day to You

If the Lord Jesus is Lord of our lives, then each day should be committed to him. If we are his servants, or more accurately, his slaves, then he owns our days – not just Sunday, but every day.

He is in charge of my agenda. He orders my appointments. He designs the things that go well, as well as the inconveniences.

He has the right of approval over all of my thoughts and my words. He has veto power over all of the things that I may think are bright or clever. I have no right to go out on my own authority, or to act as though I am merely representing my own thoughts or interests.

Yes, there are many times when I am not sure what I should do. And while, at times, I just take a stab at it, I also am in constant communication, asking, praying through, even discussing various issues.

But the ongoing communications may not be the most crucial. The most critical communication may be that first one, at the beginning of the day, before I even get out of bed. “Lord, I’m committing this day to you. I dedicate to you my energies and resources, all of which you have loaned to me in the first place. I pray for protection of my thoughts and words, that they would not be wayward, self-serving and sinful. I pray for opportunities to serve you in ways that will stretch me, and bring glory to you.”

“Go to Church” or, “Go as Church”

It’s Sunday morning, and it’s time to go to church. What a devastating idea! It’s not devastating because you can’t sleep in, or enjoy the Sunday paper, or go play golf. It’s devastating because the very idea “go to church” is so theologically twisted.

“The Church,” as defined in the Bible, is the Body of believers, the fellowship of the redeemed. As such, local groups meet together, most often in a building. But the truth is, they are the church – they do not go to church. They are church when they are gathered, and they are just as much church when they are scattered. Frankly, it is impossible to “go to church,” because church is not an address. It is a calling and a life.

Our Gatherings are important. We meet for Worship and for Teaching and for Training. We come together for the healing of hurts through the repetition of God’s promises and the encouragements of God’s people. But even more, we come together for preparation for service, for engagement in our world as ambassadors and representatives of Jesus Christ. And so our Gatherings are only successful so far as believers are encouraged and equipped to serve Christ in all the aspects of their lives.

Are you ever relieved when church is over? Get rid of that thought! It’s not over at noon. It’s actually time to “go as church.”

Heart, Eyes, and Soul

“but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.” (Deut 28:65 NAS95S)
God’s curse lays heavily upon the people of Israel, because “you would not obey” (28:45); “you did not serve” (28:47); “if you are not careful” (28:58). This curse was the promise of God for disobedience, just as blessing was God’s promise for obedience. Today, as participants, not in the Old Covenant, but in the New Covenant, Christ has borne the curse for us. And yet I believe that there may be a spiritual warning here, even as God saw fit to communicate aspects of this curse in figurative language. Is it possible that, even for believers, there are these internal, spiritual consequences for not properly paying attention and taking care?

A Trembling Heart – a sense of dread exerts tremendous pressure on every aspect of a person. What he fears in his mind is experienced in his body. What weighs heavily on his heart causes his strength to melt away. Habakkuk 3:16 shows the physical aspect inwardly.
I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered.
Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble.
Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,
For the people to arise who will invade us.
Is this dreadfulness actually a gift from God, to lead us to acknowledge our powerlessness, and lean more totally on Him? Perhaps this trembling at dread can be replaced by trembling before the divine:
The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble;
He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! Psa. 99:1
Failing Of Eyes – the rarely used word can be found in the LXX, and indicates being used up, often in reference to death (my time is used up). The eyes no longer see as they once did – the horizon, the panorama, the grand vista is no longer available. One’s sense of hope is chained to the present, limited by loss of vision. It would be easy to run headlong into the whole “vision” thing at this point, but it may be helpful to think about what happens when we lose a vision of God’s glory, when we lose attentiveness to God’s Word, when our love grows cold and our endurance falters. Old Christians who are not constantly renewed are poor leaders, just as outdoor experts with poor eyesight have lost their ability to serve as guides.
Despair Of Soul – a soul that melts is one that has lost its internal pressure, the sustaining breath of God that is fundamental for life. It seeks to survive from poorer sources. He is no longer the satisfied soul that delights in God, but rather has become the shriveled soul that has forgotten God.
The remedy for any of these conditions is a return to God in humility, asking him to do what only he can do, bring revival of heart, eyes, and soul – of the whole person, as I return to him in repentance and trust. In so doing, I am thankful even for the unpleasant gifts, since their intent is to drive this sheep back to the Shepherd: “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” 1 Peter 2:25.

Dedication to God's Will

I am taking my cue from 1 Peter 4:1 and Christ’s way of thinking. Let’s fly through Peter and try to learn about the mindset of Christ who suffered:

“And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1Pet 2:4-5 NAS95S)

The living stones of the living temple must have a resemblance to the cornerstone. This is a tremendously high calling, though it will not be so in the eyes of unbelievers.

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;” (1Pet 2:21-23 NAS95S)

The results and the reactions are not my responsibility: they are God’s. The goals will not be accomplished by forcefulness or persuasiveness of personality or words. It is the gentle approach; the suffering approach. Peter wants to bring this home to us as well by using nearly the same closing line with regard to Christian sufferers in 4:19 “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” (1Pet 3:18 NAS95S)

Divine purposes. That’s what Christ had in his heart as he suffered: God’s purpose “that he might bring us to God.” If I am to “sanctify Christ as Lord in (my) heart,” then perhaps a part of that is to sanctify also Christ’s purpose, which is to bring people to God, to gather more living stones by portraying and proclaiming the beauty of a suffering Christ to people around us.

“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,” (1Pet 4:1 NAS95S)

Dedication to the will of God. That was the theme of Christ’s life. Peter is warning people like me that if I am not so dedicated, then I will indeed be dedicated to “the lusts of men.” I have to be honest and careful about sin. It is not only damaging and destructive; it is a red flag that I am not pursuing the will of God, which was the mind-set of Christ.

Errant Intentions

We talked a lot about “mindset’ last night. I’m trying to think about how the Bible talks of this subject.

Simon the sorcerer, in Acts 8, was an apparent convert. He seems to accept the message, and then wants to manipulate the means. Peter rebukes him and says:
“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right (straight) before God. “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.” (Acts 8:20-22 NAS95S)

“Hearts not right” require repentance, repent being a common command in Acts. I also found interesting the phrase “the intention of your heart.” It contains a word that is rare:

e¶nnoia, f; e˙pi÷noia, f: that which is intended or purposed as the result of thinking — ‘intention, purpose.’
e¶nnoiaÚ ‘it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart’ He 4:12.
e˙pi÷noiaÚ ‘perhaps he will forgive you for having such a purpose in your heart’ Ac 8:22.

The word is used in apocryphal literature – not inspired; but convicting.
For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and our devices are but uncertain. Wis. 9:14

The cross-reference of a related word with Heb 4:12 is familiar, and important.
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ”

And then there is this positive reference:
“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,” (1Pet 4:1 NAS95S)

The dictionary article on this word collects some related words together, but gives some good things to think about:
nouvßb, noo/ß, noiŒ, nouvn m; dia¿noiab, aß f; e¶nnoiaa, aß f: a particular manner or way of thinking — ‘way of thinking, disposition, manner of thought, attitude.’
‘(such a person is) puffed up, for no reason at all, by his human way of thinking’ Col 2:18.
‘at that time you were strangers and enemies because of the manner in which you thought and the evil things you did’ Col 1:21.
‘you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking’ 1Pe 4:1.
In a number of languages it may be necessary to render ‘way of thinking’ by a clause, for example, ‘how people think.’ In the case of 1Pe 4:1, it may be necessary to translate ‘you too must strengthen yourselves by thinking just like Christ thought.’

So I’m thinking about errant intentions, which Peter calls “wickedness,” and associates with “gall” and “bond” (‘for I see that you are full of bitter envy (or ‘are bitterly envious’) and are a prisoner of sin’) I’m thinking about the need for repentance, and what is wrong, and what needs to change in my heart. I’m thinking about the Gospel, and it’s ability to cut to the quick. And I’m thinking about Christ, and his way of thinking [Phil 2 will have to be a stop on this journey (“Let this mind be in you”)]. I’m thinking about a world that is filled to the brim with wrong thinking, and the unlikelyhood of 4 guys sitting at a table conquering the problem, but that, if we submit to Christ’s Lordship, it just may happen.

Belong, in 1 Corinthians

What Does It Mean to Belong? 1 Corinthians


A. It means that we have been called, or summoned, by God, to participate in a new fellowship, centered in Christ, which will re-shape our intellectual framework (2:5); our relationships, both with others in the fellowship, and with those in the world; and our practices and our behaviors. (See list of verses on “call”).


B. It means that we have been set in spiritual relationship with one another as a brotherhood, with responsibility to and for one another, and with the shared privilege of one day enjoying the inheritance (6:9; 15:50). (See list of verses).


C. It means that a drastic change has happened (is happening) in our lives (6:11), containing both an inward and outward dimension. The church is pleased to accept, on the basis of a sincere outward expression, the reality of a spiritual inner operation (see chart below).


D. It means that we participate together in fellowship activity for the edification of the assembly and for cooperative service and witness. This is to be done in ways that honors Christ as opposed to other individuals, and that upholds Christ’s character as opposed to accomodating conduct which is dishonoring to Christ’s name (reputation). (See list of verses on “come together” and just a few other instances of “together”-type words).


E. The church has both a universal aspect (throughout the world and a local aspect. While being mindful of and active in our partnership with the universal church (16:1), our practical exercises and disciplines take place in a local setting (see list of verses on “church” and “churches”).

Savior

The Savior of the World
John 4:42; 1 Jn 4:14

God our Savior
1 Tim 1:1; Jude 25

God my Savior
Luke 1:47

Our Savior God
1 Tim 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4

Savior (God)
1 Tim 4:10

Savior (Christ)
Eph 5:23

Leader and Savior (Jesus)
Acts 5:31

A Savior, Jesus
Acts 13:23

Our Savior, Christ Jesus
2 Tim 1:10

Christ Jesus, our Savior
Titus 1:4; 3:6

A Savior, who is Christ, the Lord
Luke 2:11

A Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
Phil 3:20

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:18

Lord and Savior
2 Pet 3:2

Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ
Titus 2:13

Grace Appearing

Grace has appeared, time and time again. In fact, every time God shows His hand, every time God reveals Himself, it is an act of grace. Since the highest possible good is to have a glimpse of God, then for God to pull back the curtain just a bit, it is an act of grace.

God has done this is creation. We can see God’s grace as we use the senses built into our own frames. Through our own eyes, created by God, we have a window on the world that is, in large part, an expression of God’s grace.

Why do I say, “in large part?” Is not all the world completely an expression of God’s grace? No, because it has been marred by sin. And so what we see, and the very eyes with which we see, hold deceptions and hide glory. And so we stand in need of God’s grace again – not as uncreated ones – He has already done that – but now as unredeemed ones. We stand in need of the grace of redemption so that we might one day enjoy fully the grace revealed in the new creation.

But – and there seems always to be a “but” – we resist His redeeming grace. We think we can fix things ourselves, or we prefer to live independently, foolishly thinking that we can live better apart from His grace.

And then, God’s grace appears anyway. He keeps working, often so subtly, in ways that we would not expect. He softens our heart with a trial. He invades our thoughts through a poem or a song. He corrects our thinking through a children’s lesson, and chastises our stubbornness with a memory from the distant past. In surprising ways, when we least expect it, God’s grace appears.

This is analogous to grace’s greatest appearing, when Jesus was born and placed in a feed trough. The Savior came as a Servant, and the King was treated as a criminal. The power of God’s grace was manifested in great weakness, and when we saw the glory of God’s grace in the sacrifice of His Son, and our pride was busted, our hearts were melted. We became captives, no longer of sin, but of God’s great grace.

“Grace, grace – God’s grace;
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt . .”

Believing in Jesus: Neither Minimalist nor Maximalist

Alistair Begg (last 2 weeks recordings) objected to a minimalist definition of what it means to be a Christian: just believe in Jesus. That could apply to most anyone, with no commitment, and no life change. On the other hand, a maximalist definition might say that to be a Christian means to be perfectly Christ-like. We all have a long way to go on that one. What does the Bible say is involved in true saving faith?

An illustration of this comes from being clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Otherwise, the best we can do “filthy rags.” For the minimalist, maybe that means taking the “righteous robe” from Jesus and simply hanging it in the closet. One could make the argument that such “closet Christians” are not Christians at all. On the other hand, one might expect that if you are dressed in Christ’s righteousness, that you will be mistaken for Jesus. And that simply does not happen, though we would expect that, once saved, we are not just like our old selves. People say, “there’s something different about you.”

We are going to study today in the first half of the Gospel of John. He uses an interesting phrase – we believe into Jesus. Let’s see if we can figure out what this involves.

1. to believe means to receive.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (John 1:12 ESV)
Think of a receiver on a car, that accepts a trailer hitch. What would it mean, if to believe in Jesus meant to “get hitched” to him. Can you think of other, maybe better illustrations of “receiving?”
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when there seems to be little connection, little reception, between ourselves and the Lord?

2. To believe means to “see his glory.”
“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11 ESV)
Before that, it is like drinking water. But for those who see Jesus in His heavenly dimension, as the Ultimate Fulfilment and Absolute Satisfaction, it is as different as water is from wine.
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when we treat Jesus as though he were just “another guy”?

3. to believe means to understand what is at stake.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16-19 ESV)

Perish - that is the penalty for sin. You embrace that fact that you are a sinner. You come to terms with the fact that you stand under the sentence of condemnation, and that your future is summed up in the word, “perish.” To believe means to understand the terrible problem that exists because of sin.
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when we never admit that we have a problem?

4. to believe means to obey the Son.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 ESV)

It implies that you see the Son as an authority in your life. What is implied in this obedience?
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when we do not respond to Christ’s authority?

5. to believe means to “come to Jesus” for your daily (spiritual) sustenance.
“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35-36 ESV)

No one eats just once, and anyone who says they believe, and yet does not continually keep coming to Jesus does not seem to have truly believed. This, of course, is the idea behind “Daily Bread,” which implies that true Christians will desire a daily relationship with the Lord.
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when we have only a 1-time experience of coming to Christ?





6. to believe means to have the Spirit,
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:38-39 ESV)

It is the Spirit within us who produces a “heavenly flow.” His presence will be expressed. How does this show itself?
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when evidence of the Spirit’s presence is absent?

7. to believe means to expect (hope)
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26 ESV)

We believe, in the face of earth’s impossibilities, that there is absolutely nothing that Jesus cannot do, even if it means raising the dead. What do we expect Jesus to do? What is our hope?
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when we live as though this is all there is?

8. to believe means to have been changed
“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:36 ESV)
“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46 ESV)

We have changed from one sphere (darkness) to another (light); and to be related to the King of the new kingdom (sons of light) as opposed to being related to the Tyrant of the old kingdom.
Q: can we be confident that we are believers when when there is no distinguishable difference between our lifestyles and those of the world around us.

Mere Mortals?

We are mere mortals. Or are we?

From a biological point of view, we are indeed mere mortals. We are involved in a cycle of life and death. We can take no credit for our lives, and we are not able to evade death. The biology and the chemistry is determinative for the beginning and the end, and some people say for all that happens in the middle, even our passions and decisions.

But from a theological point of view, we are immortal. We are more than mortal. Yes, we stand under humanity’s sentence of death, but our soul, and our bodies, due to resurrection, will live forever. We deal with death, but we are not defined by death.

If we are not defined by death, then what defines us? I believe the Biblical answer, though hugely profound, is quite simple. What is our standing with regard to God? Are we with Him, or apart from Him? After all, He is the Creator and the final Arbiter, the Beginning and the End. When the drama of Creation, Redemption and Consummation are finally completed, it will be a reflection of who He is much more than who we are.

So the largest issue for each baby, teen and adult is this: what is your standing with regard to God? This issue is more critical than health and nutrition; than education and life/social skills; than money and property. On that day when we make the amazing transition from this world as we know it to an eternal future lived either in God’s eternal favor or God’s eternal approbation, all these other issues will be insignificant. The life lived for a few years in this arena will be only a speck compared with the times of our eternal destiny.

So why do we often choose to live as though we were are mortals? Why do we live as though biology and chemistry are determinative? Why do we invest so heavily in a passing world, and so little in an eternal one? Is it because we do not believe in God’s future, but only in our present? Is it because we take the gods of this world seriously, but not the God who made heaven and earth?

There is a stupid saying that goes, “If you have your health, you have everything.” No, if you have God, then you have everything. And if you do not have God, then everything you have will not be nearly enough.

Sin’s Execution

Depending on what books you read, the word “execution” can mean different things. Brian White and I read the business book, “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Bossidy and Charan. They insist that our plans result in action, in active execution. We hear this meaning in the cliches repeated by sports team members: “we just need to execute better.”

That wouldn’t be a very nice game if they meant another meaning of the word “execute,” which is “to carry out a sentence of death.” Readers of history will come across many instances of both executioners and martyrs.

So which meaning do I intend by my title, “Sin’s Execution?” Both! First of all, sin works – it is active and it is productive, and it keeps on working in your life and mine. The trouble often is that our sin is more diligent than we are in our own spiritual watchcare. And so, the conclusion is, sin executes; it works.

But sin is, in the other sense, in the process of being executed. The sentence of death has been rendered on sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and sin is making it’s long, slow march to the gallows. The trouble is, it still wreaks havoc in the lives of passers-by, which includes all of us.

We would like to jump forward from the throng and stab sin to death. But – and this is very important – we cannot. It is beyond our power. In a strange sense, we have to say, sin is better than we are.

So what are we to do with Paul’s admonition in our memory verse to “put to death the deeds of the body” (Rom 8:13)? Here, we must put to death the various expressions of sin’s activity in our lives. We must keep pulling the weeds. But if we think that having once pulled the weeds, we have put an end to all that is wild and unwanted, we are dangerously fooling ourselves. I must conclude that I am not sin’s final executioner, but thankfully, Jesus is.

What Does it Mean to Belong (a study in Acts)

What Does It Mean to Belong?
A Study in the Book of Acts
Monday, May 1, 2006



Review from last month’s study on “joining”: we looked broadly at "cleaving and leaving" (Gen 2:24) and at "clinging" to right things and the wrong things, along with "holding fast." These references were not about "joining the church", but rather God being joined with His people and individuals' participation in that people. An excellent illustration is a husband and wife being joined together.


Acts 9:26
And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.


Note: “Joining” in the Bible is not an organizational term, even though we use it that way. The Bible does not speak of “joining the church” (at least so far in our study) in a formal way. Rather, it seems to speak of a “mystical” or “organic” union the is created between God and His people, and individuals as “joined” to that people, even as a husband and wife find “oneness” when they become married. It is not organizational; some have said “organic” is a good word.


Definition of a Disciple: (note what is visible, and what is not)

Acts 2:21
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Acts 2:38
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:19
Repent therefore, and turn again (a changed life?), that your sins may be blotted out,


Acts 11:26 (an interesting combination of terms)
and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.


What Kind of Gatherings?

Acts 2:44
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. (Who else would have even wanted to be there?)

Acts 13:44
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. (obviously not just believers)

Acts 14:22
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Note: it seems that there is a very great danger is sharing a message designed for believers with unbelievers, in that it may hide the fact that what is most desperately needed is to be saved in the first place. Encouraging someone to continue in the faith who is not yet even in the faith may be a huge dis-service.

Acts 14:27
And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Note: this hits on the aim of our study. Did they know who was part of the church and who was not? Did they tabulate, keep records, develop a system? Does the Bible describe such a system?




Acts 15:30
So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. (Who did they call? Was their contact list their membership list?)

Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Note: Were there precautions to be sure that only believers were participating in the Lord’s Supper? I think this would almost amount to “church membership. Are the careful use of the ordinances an appropriate way to oversee the makeup of the congregation: clear testimony that is consistent with Christlike conduct; and regular participation in the Lord’s table? This would be a more “pastoral” type of oversight as opposed to an organizational system or program. Cf. the next reference.

Acts 10:47
“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.


Word Study: “Added”

Acts 2:41
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (who did the adding? Cf. The next reference.)

Acts 2:47
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.


Acts 5:14
And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

Note: but can we conclude the same thing here, that the congregation or the leaders were not the ones doing the adding? But note that this verb is always passive (were added) as opposed to active (they added) except where it says that “the Lord added” (2:47)

Acts 11:24
for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.


Word Study: “Number(s)” (Greek word looks like “arithmetic”)

Acts 4:4
But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. (if they were numbering, weren’t they counting; and if they were counting, isn’t likely that they were writing it down, kind of like a membership list? Or was only God keeping track?)

Acts 4:32
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. (I guess if you weren’t “of one heart and soul,” you must not have been a believer)

Acts 6:7
And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 11:21
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.


Acts 16:5
So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

Expectations for Growth:

Acts 9:31
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Some thoughts on and quotes from Mark Dever’s Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, in his chapter on “A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership”

What is the Church? “The church is the body of Christ, the local collection of Christians committed to Christ and to each other?” (p.150)
Why Join a Church? In this section, Dever gives many logical and sensible arguments for being part of a church. But his treatment does not give a Biblical basis for the mechanics of membership. Can you be part of the family with or without the use of an organizational tool?
What Does Church Membership Entail? There is to be both an expression of faith (baptism) and a commitment to “the faith,” that is, an agreement with the doctrine of the church, and further, an agreement to membership responsibilities. These responsibilities are largely Bible-based, but are selective, and codified form. They have become an organizational tool rather than the organic description that we find in the NT.

Note: Dever’s conclusions are based on his study of the whole of Scripture, and then fleshed out practically in organizational terms. I believe that he is godly, wise, and intelligent. He is also a very strong leader, perhaps with a strong bent toward organization. And so I am not saying this is wrong. We are simply involved in an ongoing study of what the Bible clearly presents, and then will strive to adopt a practice the re-presents the Bible’s teaching.

Walking in the Spirit - Alternative Living

If we do not live by the Spirit, what are the alternatives? If we do not live by the Spirit, what are the dynamic principles of life to which we will turn? Answers are easily at hand.

We can live by the flesh – raw human energy. In fact, that is our habit from birth. And our flesh has a certain vitality to it, especially when we are young. We can run, jump and dash about, though as we age, we find that such activities require recovery time, and we begin to face the fact that the flesh has a diminishing vitality. It ends in death. “All flesh is like grass, and all it’s glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers; the flower fades…”

We can also attempt to live by the Law – performance energy that desires to meet and exceed standards, gain approval and merit reward. In Jewish life, this Law took the form of Torah; in our secular society, we can see it in the ladder-climbing of the
corporation (lessons learned on college campuses) and in the one-upmanship that causes us to over-reach for the latest clothes, the bigger house, and the fancier cars. But these rat races are cruel, cut-throat, and often laced with lies. The profit professed doesn’t disclose the hidden costs, and the acquisitions, in the end, do not satisfy. As we proudly clutch today’s prize, we realize that tomorrow’s race has already begun, and that these games will go on until we give up, or die trying.

And so Paul’s letter to the Galatian believers invites us to embrace Christ; and in so doing, our memory verse (Gal. 5:25-26) instructs us concerning this brand new principle of living that, unlike all others, delivers what it promises – the Spirit gives life! Commit to walking (living) by this rule, by the Divine Third Person who right now, right in here (tap your heart) creates resurrection life that becomes ever more lively and Who helps us lay aside silly, human habits of preening and pride.

Walking in the Spirit - Footsteps

We are challenged to “walk in the footsteps” in two passages, one dealing with Abraham, and another with Christ, but both helping us understand what it means to walk in the Spirit.

Abraham is our founding father in the faith according to Paul in Romans 4. He is not only the father of the Jewish people, biologically, but the father of all other believers as well (the uncircumcised). He is the representative figure of faith in the Bible, as Adam is the representative figure of flesh (living independently from God). As humans, we stand in Adam’s shadow, and share in his character(istics). As believers, we stand in Abraham’s shadow, and share in his character (istics). And so we “walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had” (Rom