Me, My, Mine?

I hear a lot of proclamations within Christianity of, “I want to make my faith my own.”  Honestly, I do recoil a little when I hear this, though I trust in the Lord that He sanctifies as He saves.  However this proclamation does imply an individuality that can be a distraction from the community inherent in knowing by faith we join an assembly that is the body of Christ.

As Dr. Stephen D. Lowe and Dr. Mary E. Lowe together write in chapter nine of Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age, “the syn connection we have with Christ supplies all of the spiritual nutrients needed for proper growth, and indeed, gives life that marks possible our growth.”[1] This immediately calls to mind John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (English Standard Version)

This verse asserts that we are related and relatable to Christ, but separate and dependent upon his holiness to bear fruit.  As well, in the reference, a vine is never constituted by one branch.  That would not make for much fruit nor wine.  Rather community is represented by Christ asserting that he is the body and by definition a healthy vine consists of a plural of branches.  As we are individual believers, we are but one branch thus we cannot vainly attribute to ourselves greater significance within this ecological motif than a contributory, dependent piece.

Relatedly, the apostle Paul builds upon this example in Romans 11 when addressing gentiles as branches grafted into the community of faith.  “And you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.  If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” (Rom. 11:17-18)

Paul’s counsel to remember where our support comes from, that is Christ where our hope comes from, is helpful as well that it tells us not to be arrogant.  As Paul was making this overture in a disembodied medium of the letter, certainly it applies today to how we should understand grafting and humility in a disembodied context that still promotes community over the individual.  We are meant to grow in Christ among other believers, and we are shown that community can be encouraged, exhorted, and promoted through a disembodied context.  Even in a digital context today, it is not isolation that fosters growth, but acknowledgement of the example of a branch within a vine, truly the shared identity in Christ, that unifies us rather than separates us.

[1] Stephen D. Lowe Ph.D and Mary E. Lowe Ph.D., Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic,  2018), 148.

Cut From the Same Cloth

When passing on a compliment of you having inherited some gifts, or that you’re displaying a generational merit, people will often say you’re “from good stock” or “cut from the same cloth.”  We don’t know what the future holds, but most cultures are reasonably focused upon determining where they’re from.  So too, and how true, for the Jews.  They are God’s chosen people, the Israelites, and their story traces back before King David, before Moses, and before even their selection by God of the man Abram.  Their origin story points to the creation of the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden and the direct relationship with God that entailed.

This is important to remember for Christians today.  Though God foreknew his elect (Rom. 8:29, English Standard Version), Christians are being “born again” by grace through faith all over the world all the time by the rebirth that happens in baptism according to the Great Commission (Matt. 26).  As it turns out, baptism and faith conjoined us into the same cloth we were all originally cut from, as the earliest Christians who were largely Jesus-believing Jews.  As Elwell & Yarbrough write, “The early Christians saw themselves as the people of God and the inheritors of the Old Testament promises.”1  Dr. Robert Wayne Stacy concurs by saying, “Christianity began as a legitimate movement within the piety of first century Judaism.”2

This is significant for Luke as the author of Acts, and himself a gentile.  The gospel he wrote chronicles the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus through careful interview of the Jewish players (disciples et al); the book of the Acts of the Apostles introduces the power of the promised Holy Spirit working through the birthed church that grows to fulfill the Great Commission.  Acts is still very much a contemporary model for us present-day believers, exemplifying the good stock we come from.  We were made for good works, and Acts is the book to showcase them, from Peter’s bold preaching at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41), to a life lived in service & community among believers (Acts 2:42-47), to drastic conversions of the likes of Saul of Tarsus into Paul the missionary (Acts 9), Luke is writing about what Jews do when they take following Jesus seriously.  

What we Christians today must remember is that our God – the Triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – has been and remains at work (John 5:17) as we are invited into the right relationship with him through faith in Jesus Christ.  At church this past Sunday (Calvary Chapel Palos Verdes, CA) by providence we are two weeks into proceeding through Acts verse-by-verse.  God is certainly good in His timing to put this blog post into the midst of a fresh sermon series.  One of Pastor Daniel’s key points was that he believed Pentecost, in its sound of wind (Acts 2:2), tongues like fire (Acts 2:3), and all manner of languages heard AND understood (Acts 2:5-11), that it represented the inverse of the tower of Babel calamity (Gen. 11:1-9).  Here, by the power of the Holy Spirit, unity and purpose were given to man as opposed to taken from them in their aspirations to raise themselves to the height of God.  Since their languages were separated from the tower of Babel episode, at last, that distinction was made invalid for the sake of unity in birthing the church.  It was a point I hadn’t considered before, but it represents the heritage the early church had, that we still have, to the way God interacted with his people in earliest history. 

Luke took pains to demonstrate the early church as authentically Jewish because the story of God and his people traces back through the Jews to the authorship of man altogether for the sake of salvation by one God-man altogether, Jesus Christ.3 Some examples include:

The Jewish feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) was primarily a thanksgiving for the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, but it was later associated with a remembrance of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. (Acts 2)

Peter’s sermon begins with detailed recitation of Scripture, the first time we actually have recorded his use of citing Scripture, when he quotes the prophet Joel. (Acts 2:17-21)

Peter refers to the “patriarch David” as an example of a Jewish protagonist who prophesied about Jesus, quoting, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Acts 2:29, 34-35)

Without these and other exacting bridges authored by Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, meant to combine the nascent church with the historic faith, our faith lineage would resemble the arbitrary incompleteness of alternate world religions.

1Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey

Links to an external site., Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 188.

2Robert Wayne Stacy, Ph.D. The Jewish Setting of the Early Church In Acts. Liberty University, 2019. https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/628598/pages/watch-the-jewish-setting-of-the-early-church-in-acts?module_item_id=70858838

3Robert Wayne Stacy, Ph.D. Pentecost and the Eschatological Setting of the Early Church In Acts. Liberty University, 2024. https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/628598/pages/watch-pentecost-and-the-eschatological-setting-of-the-early-church-in-acts?module_item_id=70858851

Recognizing Truthful Old Testament Themes

The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis cover creation through the Tower of Babel.  What God accomplishes during these chapters is to create everything out of nothing, set this creation into order & time, affirm it, and delegate authority of stewarding creation to the part of his beloved made in God’s image, namely man (Genesis 1:1-27, English Standard Version).

Various theological themes about God are presented in this portion of Genesis.  First, as Hamilton notes in Handbook on the Pentateuch, God is represented in oneness.[1]  As we read the outset of Scripture, we are introduced to one God, as opposed to an ensemble of deities commonly known from polytheistic traditions.  Often in polytheistic traditions, the many gods are assigned a specialty or representation, but the God of the Bible is the creator God and creation flows from His will and speech.  According to Hamilton, “It is God’s oneness that alone makes sense of words such as “universe” or “universality.”[2]

A contemporary theme in popular entertainment cites the prospect of a multiverse, as if there are parallel universes running in time and in stride beyond our immediate perception.  Being an experienced filmmaker myself for several decades, it has become a bit laughable to see the narrative calisthenics that screenwriters and directors will resort to in hopes of reconciling this dimensional hypothesis into a cogent story.  I liken this trend to deistic-naval-gazing. 

After all, who sets a multiverse in order?  It can’t be simply down to when a movie starts it by default assigns the first scene must the primary dimension.  Rather, God is one, and He has set about His truth as revealed in the outset of Scripture.  Without His oneness to exist outside of time, how might we even establish which of the innumerable multiverses is actually the primary one?  Instead of imagining what other versions of ourselves or our heroes would do in fictional alternate realities, we ought to remember His creation of the universe has sufficient endemic complexities worthy of a lifetime’s study and glorification.   

One other interesting point I find with the creation story is its brevity in description.  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)  The vastness of the heavens and earth certainly exceeds the sum of ten words, but it’s the matter-of-fact succinctness which compels us to accept reality as created by our God according to a means and power far beyond our ability to understand or approximate.  The apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians a reminder that they, “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.” (Eph. 3:18-21)  Paul’s attribution of creation power and its majesty takes more words than the Scripture devotes to the mechanics of creating the heavens and the earth.  I think that is because God understands His work far better than we can.

A theological theme about mankind is the distinction God maintains between himself and creation.  Our ancestor Adam arrives as a capstone of creation after a prolific output of life from vegetation put upon the earth on the third day, to fish and birds on the fifth day, to animals and humans on the sixth day. (Gen. 1:11-27).  The creation of Man and Woman is first announced in chapter 1 where God confirms His will to “make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen 1:26)  Special attention is given again to man’s creation Genesis chapter 2, showing the care of a potter to craft us from dust.  As a piece of clay can be given a form to resemble its author, it cannot itself give unto itself its own form.  This underscores the bright line between creator and creation.

Another theme about mankind is how we are beloved.  In spite of the will we have which contributed to the fall and disobeying God, introducing sin into the world, Adam and Eve are rebuked without being destroyed.  In fact, the crafty serpent that interjected temptation is cursed by God’s forecast of Eve’s descendant crushing the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).  God enacts a plan to intercede on our behalf in His time.  God then clothes his children before driving them out of the garden.  A fate far worse could have come from a God who did not have a love for his creation.

My life is that of a Christian, living out an identity in Jesus Christ by grace through faith.  The theme of oneness relates to God’s sovereignty.  I have owned a small business for about 14 years, working primarily in video production services for commercial clientele.  This is in addition to another 11 years’ industry experience before this present venture.  It’s our God of provision who created the heavens and the earth that afforded me the aptitude and opportunity in this trade.  However, as our Lord Jesus was a carpenter, or the apostle Paul was a tent maker, so too does my identity in Christ Jesus supersede my vocation.  The pursuit of this education is a realization of the call Christ made to follow him.

I also relate to how Genesis provides me clarity and certainty in my marriage.  My wife and I celebrated 20 years married in August 2023, and as our marriage endures, I know more and more the significance of Genesis 1:18 that states, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

That my wife was set aside for me, and I for her, so that we may through marital unity worship God together, is such a gift.  Such a gift only the creator God could conceive, ordain, and make real out of his care for us.

[1] Victor P. Hamilton. Handbook on the Pentateuch (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2005), 24.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Milestones

Well it’s been a bit since Christ Was Here softly launched in February.

As the fourth month of the project draws toward its close, I wanted to praise God with the glory for the milestones we’ve been blessed to cross this past weeks and months. We are still a young and nimble project, but fair to say we’re going from crawl to walk.

The blog has become a repository for thoughts and writings of the contributors, especially with work product from divinity school assignments!

The Nailed It Theology podcast will release Episode #13 before the end of this month and will feature the second appearance by our first guest. More guests are planned for the summer as well, so the conversations continue to grow and prosper in the Lord.

And now we’ve dipped our toes into adding a store! That’s right, why not create and curate some tangible reminders of the encouragement of God’s Word and the Gospel message. It begins with one t-shirt as we speedily learn how to merchandise, and we’re excited for the first fruits of that new part of the project. “Have You Not Heard?” shirts are now available.

It goes without saying that as or if revenue comes into play with this ministry project, ALL net proceeds will be donated in equal thirds to 1) Calvary Chapel Palos Verdes 2) St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Orange and 3) Pacific Lutheran Jr./Sr. High in Gardena, CA. We appreciate the Holy Spirit moving in these three ministries and hope to foster growing support for their work.

Next up for the summer, among continuing the joyfulness for Jesus, is finalizing the Christ Was Here logo. :)

An Enemy on Earth for Friends in Heaven

As a final wrap up in Old Testament class this semester, we were prompted to reflect on Esther 4:1-17, and relate it to our personal faith today.

Reflecting upon Esther 4:1-17, and particularly Esther’s remarks in Verse 16, I’m reminded of the popularized phrase from the American Civil War attributed to David Farragut, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”  When courage is really called upon, action may not be rational, but faith may surely be implicit. A personal calculus cannot be what friends will I be left with after venturing out in faith… because we are subject here on earth to an enemy that prowls like a lion (1 Peter 5:8). The enemy had captured the hearth of Haman in the experience of Esther, Mordecai, and the Jews of their day.

Much is made as to the Book of Esther being a part of the Biblical canon and having the distinction of lacking any mention of God as well as lacking any theistic language.[1]  While Esther herself couches her plan of beseeching Ahasuerus with accompanying calls to fast (v. 16), it isn’t ascribed as to God’s deliberate hand in the action.  However, the against-all-odds circumstance does relate to what the Israelites faced against Goliath and the Philistines (1 Sam. 17).  Perhaps this was on her heart in defense of her people?  David’s emergence into the narrative of decisive action and fearlessness of Goliath draws parallel with Esther acting under the impending national doom that Haman plans to enact (Esther 3:13).  Perhaps for Esther Psalm 46 was at the ready on her tongue, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Ps. 46:1) Perhaps due to its closeness in time and demonstrable faith respective to those two accounts, Esther thought of Daniel in the lion’s den during the exile in Babylon? (Dan. 6) [Hat tip Professor H. for the Daniel note]

Ironically, I draw a parallel to the intent of Esther, and her words “if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16) respective to my decision to seek Liberty University and enroll in this program.  Three months ago, I was an applicant to seminary for a bi-vocational program that would engage me to serve at the small Lutheran congregation where I served as Church President.  Amid an unexpected pastoral vacancy, this application last fall was a unanimous act by the congregation’s membership to promote church work from within… until it wasn’t.  Enmity ensued around Christmas with several established, if misguided, elements vying for influence and control of the overall ministry. 

The enemy had inserted a wedge of discord and slander into our community that I believe, in one way, was intended to discourage discipleship in His church, and specifically my pursuit of the Lord through education. The enemy wants to counteract the church wherever he can, and the church at large, in fullness, is a gathering of disciples growing in the Spirit. 

Suffice to say, come the new year, it was time to dust off our sandals from a situation where my wife and I, servants in this church for years (and involved in its broader ministries for over a decade), had been defamed with reckless abandon. It was hard to consider leaving, but I relate to Esther’s sentiment that “if I perish [in name through slander], I perish.”

I’m not a victim, to be clear, but we experienced how preaching Christ crucified was creating enemies. We did not face the physical annihilation of the Jews as in Esther, but our reputations were given like treatment, trampled by the kind of hearts described in Titus 1:15. The counter parties in this season were captive to a view that was inverted to our own — preferring selfish ambition and vain conceit to the Lordship of Jesus. 

In hindsight, that was a deliverance moment in my own small way, akin to how Esther and Mordecai vindicated the Jews by their actions against Haman.  These few months later, it is clear the altogether different seminary institution was a blessing in its right and a necessary pivot. Our family prospers in spiritual health, and we are in a new healthy church that is focused on the real us meeting the real Jesus.  In fact, parallel to Esther, David, the Psalmist, or Daniel… this new church is growing because of palpable fear of the Lord, not unlike Esther 8:17 in specific. 

God was deliberate with the challenging season so that faithful action, even if implicit for Him, may reflect as faithfulness in Him.

A few months later, as my wife and I still reflect on the enmity in the old congregational locale, and in its ministries. It is frankly sad, lamentable even. We reflect on how here on Earth, for the cause of Christ, He told us we will endure the accrual of enemies as much, if not more, than the collection of disciples in fellowship (Matt. 10:25).

My wife recalled a quote by Margaret Thatcher, that she referenced to the Queen of England, attributed to the poet Charles Mackay in his poem “No Enemy”:

You have no enemies, you say?


Alas! my friend, the boast is poor;


He who has mingled in the fray


Of duty, that the brave endure,


Must have made foes!

If you have none,


Small is the work that you have done.


You've hit no traitor on the hip,


You've dashed no cup from perjured lip,


You've never turned the wrong to right,


You've been a coward in the fight.

[1] Victor P. Hamilton. Handbook on the Historical Books (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2001) 539.

1000 Words on Balam’s Donkey

Cleaning out the google doc folder of classwork as this first semester draws toward its close.

Below is one of the first assignments I got to enjoy discussing the ecological motif God introduced into creation and describes through the Bible.

Rejecting the interconnected and interactive nature of the physical and spiritual ecologies God created is to take a very dismissive view of the Bible and its contents.  As Dr. Stephen D. Lowe and Dr. Mary E. Lowe together describe in the first four chapters of Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age, God designed, created, and implemented ecologies from the Garden of Eden, into Genesis and through Revelation.  Furthermore, his son Jesus Christ infused ecological thinking into the parables taught during his ministry.  Additionally, the apostle Paul relied upon overtones of ecological thinking when describing the human body as a metaphor to represent the body of Christ.

One example from the Old Testament I would offer as Biblical evidence is the account of Balaam’s donkey taken from Numbers 22: 21-39.  Just before these verses, we learn of how Balak, King of Moab, sought to engage Balaam, son of Beor, to pronounce a curse on the Israelites who were taking up camp in Moab.  Balaam, having been summoned repeatedly by Balak, at last acquiesced and saddled his donkey to set off with the Moabite officials (Numbers 22:21).  Along his travels, according to the anger of God, an angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose Balaam’s path.  The interconnectedness of the natural and spiritual is first shown by the donkey’s response to the foreboding presence of the angel of the Lord.  In the first instance, to avoid the angel with its drawn sword, the donkey veers off the road and into a field (Numbers 22:23).  For this detour, the donkey receives a beating from Balaam.  Undeterred, however, the angel appeared again blocking a narrow path, and the donkey’s efforts resulted in the crushing of Balaam’s foot against a wall.  Again, the donkey was rebuked by Balaam with a beating.  In a third instance, the angel of the Lord appeared again in a subsequent narrow place.  The donkey reacted once more to the angel and laid down under Balaam, ceasing their progress.  A third beating resulted which prompted the Lord to open the donkey’s mouth to speak with its master Balaam.

Balaam lambasts the donkey for the deterrent effect on their path, and a suddenly conversational donkey makes a blunt plea to the relationship the two have shared as interconnected members of the ecology of God’s creation, saying “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day?  Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

Balaam replies to end verse 30 with, “No.”  At this acknowledgment, finally, the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord standing in the way, sword drawn.  Finally, the clarity of deterrence that the donkey responded to, graciously for the benefit of its master, is made plain to Balaam.  Genesis 1:26-28 establishes the delegated dominion man is to have over the earth and its animals, confirming an interconnected reality between man, made in God’s image, and creation around him populated by the myriad animals.  But dominion doesn’t allow for abuse.  The donkey’s willingness in its ecological relationship with Balaam is to take him wherever his master wants to go.  But the donkey, even though it’s just a donkey, recognizes for his master’s benefit the spiritual connection to the creator God by responding in deference to the angel of the Lord. 

Balaam, a sinner like you and I, stumbles in his pride and anger to abuse the donkey, such that the exasperation of the animal to its master gets mysteriously articulated into language that Balaam understands.  The donkey’s appeal as a reliable servant to Balaam confirms the two are connected in the ecology of God’s creation.  The donkey serves as reliable, faithful transport.  The donkey even convinces Balaam of his habit of performing these duties reliably.

The angel of the Lord reiterates the reprehensible action of Balaam by also affirming the role the donkey plays in its relationship to its master.  In verse 33 the angel of the Lord says, “The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times.  If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

Here we see a picture of grace and judgment.  The donkey responding in obedience to the angel of the Lord to the blocked path three times, was also a portrait of honor and obedience to its master, though Balaam couldn’t see it.  The donkey, through an interconnected relationship, thrives when its owner is reliably ferried away from harm.  The donkey is credited by the angel in this obedience as being the sole reason why the angel hadn’t yet taken an opportunity to kill Balaam so that his progress toward harming the Israelites might be stopped.  Finally, understanding the authority represented by the angel of the Lord, Balaam repents for his sin in verse 34, and offers to turn back.  Verse 35 draws the story nearly to a close where the angel reiterates the expectation God placed on Balaam to only speak what God puts in his mouth.

Dogs are known as man’s best friend, but clearly in this story, Balaam either didn’t have dogs that he kept in his company, or they weren’t called upon to act in deference to the Lord like this talking donkey was.  The donkey’s existence, by its own account, is to merit life through the relationship and duty it has to its human master.  The donkey knows and honors this dominion under man, but more importantly, it remembers the author of the dominion, the ecological relationship between beast and man, as that created by God.  Ultimately this obedience saves Balaam’s life and provides him proper clarity for further instruction from the Lord.  Though Balaam had previously testified to the authority of God earlier in this chapter (verse 18) it took a beast he enjoyed an interconnected dependence upon to be the precise instrument to intercede in Balaam’s progress toward cursing the Israelites at the behest of King Balak.

Every morning my hound dog says to me in his own voice, a howl or sorts, that it's time to walk so he can sniff the neighborhood and search for critters.  May I be so blessed to have the Lord use my dog to tell me something important for His purpose that I fail to see with my own senses, limited faith, or understanding.  If you believe the Bible is inerrant, then a strangely obstinate talking donkey is but one of God’s ways of interacting with his children for His purposes.

Too True to Be Legendary

As the first semester of school chasing the M.Div draws toward its close, here’s another dose of “Class Notes” blog-style. In intro to Apologetics, we were recently tasked with crafting a short argument paper that would argue against some of the reasons people explain away the gospel truth. I chose to discuss the categorization of legend, and how often the world might grant the gospel the status of being legend if only we compromise then that it isn’t truth and history. Enjoy!

Introduction

Legends can be fun because they grow with time.  If a story is worth being legendary, then only patience is necessary to see increased grandiosity with every retelling.  It is as if the story as simple history starts as a balloon.  Time provides helium to stretch and grow the balloon,  give it an embellished shape, and even appear to defy gravity.  Over time, while the physical material of the initial history represented in the balloon is still present, it is fair to say the object of the balloon with new properties of size and levitation has taken on a life of its own.  Legends as such, become grand indulgences built upon an initial element of truth.  This brings to mind an attack on the veracity of the apostle Paul which I remember seeing on Facebook last year.  It hinged on the premise that Paul was a deft charlatan, responsible for selling civilization into a legend of the work of the man Jesus into the deity of Christ.  Thus the charge here might be called “legend-crafting.”  In this paper I will argue that the apostle Paul lived and wrote history, as opposed to legend, to culminate in his contributions to the church via the New Testament in support of the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Analysis of Legends

According to J.P. Moreland et al in The God Conversation: Using Stories to Explain Your Faith, “Legends are short on details, long on drama.”  The example of the Alamo is provided to show cultural adhesion toward promoting virtue and valor may pridefully rebuke arguments from history that tell another story.  Colloquially, Texans and non-Texans alike often appreciate the rallying cry of “Remember the Alamo!” to effectively mean fight to the end, against all odds.  In that moral plateau, room for equivocating details or embarrassing facts often gets removed. Historians have contended against the legend with evidence that certain heroes died less defiantly than believed (Davy Crockett) or bore the marks of moral flaws that would tarnish their enduring valor (William Travis, Sam Houston and Jim Bowie).  With allowances for drama, and prejudice against moral ambiguity, the amount of time from event to recording also becomes an important detail for arguing veracity.  Turning to a different story, but comparable in its ubiquity, many Americans are still alive to describe their vivid memory of where they were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  Though his brief tenure in the White House received the branding of “Camelot”, the 61 years that have passed still represents a short enough time to prevent this assassinated leader of the free world from being recast as a carbon copy of King Arthur.  Historian A. N. Sherwin-White argued in his book Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament that even two generations proved to be too short a time for legend to replace historical fact.  Thus, legends are often meat and potatoes for cultural formation, but they contain intrinsic characteristics and practical limits that disqualify some stories, particularly Paul’s accounts of the resurrected Jesus Christ, as being rebranded as legends from history.  

Paul in History and as History

Paul started life as Saul, born and raised in Tarsus (Acts 9:9-12, English Standard Version).  Tarsus was no backwater, rather it was a relatively prosperous and populous city in the Roman Empire with established culture and education.  As the capital city of Cilica during Saul’s time, it attracted many university intellectuals and was known for its famous and influential Stoic philosophers.  As the dominant philosophy in Tarsus, stoicism was difficult to escape, thus Saul’s upbringing with regard to self-control, rationality, and relationship was strongly influenced by stoicism.  Rudolf Bultmann asserts that the apostle Paul’s reasoning sometimes resembles Stoics’ arguments through the use of rhetorical questions, imaginary opponents, athletics illustrations, and life in general.  That Stoicism doesn’t carry a banner for authoring legend as much as it does for contributions in philosophy credits Paul the same for use of respective argumentative techniques in his writings.  A popular example from his epistle writings is, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?  So run that you may obtain it.  They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” (1 Cor. 9:24-25)

Where legends’ growth often crowds out the less flattering details, Saul/Paul proves an exception as a character in history and advocate for history.  Introduced into the church narrative as a sort of coat-check-boy for a young Saul while the mob stoned Stephen (Acts 7:58), the process for generating this account of Saul as accomplice to persecution, and later leader in persecution, preserves his initial role in ministry as antagonist.  As Luke is credited as author of Acts, his process is of careful investigation through witnessesses and reports.  This conscripts the character of Saul into historical reporting inconsistent with legend embellishments.  Later in Acts, now as the apostle Paul post-conversion experience in the presence of resurrected Jesus Christ, he gives a speech to Ephesian church elders in Miletus saying, “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.” (Acts 20:18-19)  Here Luke records him as a church leader, rather than legend-crafter.  He wishes to instruct the future church by recounting his own ministry among both Jews and Greeks and admonishing the leaders of the church in Ephesus.  One must be willing to go out on a limb and risk their own characterization for the sake of testimony to lead in ministry the way Paul did, which certainly leaves room for those to dislike him for the testimony and work he did.

To return briefly to the balloon analogy, through Saul/Paul we see that he serves as that medium for God to author history as that balloon.  But what of the question of passage of time?  Could there be enough from which legend might be the balloon’s helium to send Paul’s testimony aloft as legend?  As referenced earlier, historians argue that two generations of time is ample for history preservation at the expense of legend creation.  Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, recorded by Luke in Acts 9, can very easily be placed in time between 33 C.E. and 62 C.E., denoting the crucifixion in the former and Paul’s house arrest in Rome in the latter.  A window of 29 years suffices, by historians’ standards, suffices as a time sufficient to allow a historian (Luke) to interview and record the testimony of the apostle Paul encountering the post-ascension Christ as he stands in closer temporal and personal proximity to the event than even the gospel writers to their works.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul lists witnesses of the resurrected Jesus in when he attests to Jesus death and resurrection and subsequent appearance to Peter, the twelve, the five hundred brothers, James, all the apostles, and then to Paul himself (1 Cor. 15:3-8)  That this letter dates to A.D. 55 places it squarely within a plausible timeline for serving as history recording tied to numerous witnesses including himself.

Conclusion

In Acts 9, on the road to Damascus, the voice said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4)  Christ, as Lord, authored history as opposed to legend, by providing a twist upon reality.  Jesus engaged Saul, prolific in persecution, to become perhaps the most prolific early missionary as the apostle Paul.  Though a visual and aural encounter with God might be the fodder for legend in today’s culture, in fact the process for recording this event as with others where the resurrected Christ appeared, satisfies numerous standards – details, self-deprecation, and timeliness – of history making.  While time might be the helium to levitate the balloon of a legendary story, in fact it was Christ resurrected that lifted up the truth of this history balloon so that the story would tell like no other.

[1]  J.P. Moreland, Tim Muehlhoff, R. Lee Strobel. The God Conversation: Using Stories and Illustration to Explain Your Faith (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2017), 90.

[2] Ibid., 90.

[3] Ibid., 94.

[4] Quency E. Wallace. “The Early Life and Background of Paul the Apostle.” Journal of Biblical Theology 2 (2): 141.

[5] Ibid., 144.

[6] Walter A. Elwell & Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013), 194.

[7] John-Christian Eurell. “The Speeches in Acts and the Ideological Agenda of the Work.” Neotestamentica 55, no. 2 (2021): 316

[8] Thomas H. Olbricht. “The Apostle Paul: A Review Essay.” Restoration Quarterly 61, no. 2 (2019): 108.

[9] William Lane Craig. “The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus.” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, ed. Khaldoun A. Sweiss and Chad V. Meister (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2012), 363.

[10] Michael P. Middendorf and Mark Schuler. Called by the Gospel: An Introduction to the New Testament (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2007), 150.

Backstory to Origin Story

A little “Class Notes” assignment dump from one of my classes where the prompt was discern and determine the backstory of a general epistle in the New Testament so that we understand what the author was dealing with at the time and how it relates to church today, enjoy!

…

Having read the general epistle of James in pursuit of discerning the backstory, it surely seems that God is on the move (gospel expansion), the stakes are high (eternal salvation by grace through faith), and yet the same old failings of the flesh stand to blunt the advance of the good news of Jesus Christ.

James begins his letter with a frankness that means business, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ... To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings." (James 1:1, English Standard Version)  This denotes urgency... it is time to talk turkey at the outset, lest a moment be lost even in pleasantries.

Why the urgency?  The presumed author James, the half-brother of Jesus and post-resurrection convert to Christ follower, is understood to have been a pastor of the church in Jerusalem.  What greater opportunity cost might present itself than to be a literal blood sibling  of the Messiah, and avoid a profession of faith until after he had departed this earth for our sake?  As Christ followers plant churches in an expanding radius beyond Judea, I imagine James was motivated to encourage, and exhort, these believers to get it right, by the power of Christ.  

Still in the beginning of the letter he speaks directly to individual church leaders by saying, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)  Two primary resources for these early churches at this time are literally the witness shared and the Holy Spirit leveraged.  But as we are told by the apostle Paul to “not quench the spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19), James here promotes endurance for the sake of sanctification.

In sanctification, the work being done day by day by faith, James addresses in this letter how to do the life of a Christ follower well.  I believe he is motivated to articulate an intersection between orthodoxy and orthopraxy.  Partiality, an untamed tongue, worldliness… these are contrary to both sound doctrine and sound living.  In fact, in the letter James asserts for the committed believer that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).  He draws focus on two prime examples of fruitful, Kingdom-building living couched in the doctrine of “love God, love others”... that is “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27)  Ministering to the needs of widows and orphans in first-century Roman provinces was no doubt a target rich environment.

The whole of the letter remains true today for the church.  A brief example; I was the lay President of our congregation up until just before I enrolled at Liberty University in February.  The Lord walked my family and I through a season of unexpected discord and enmity at our prior church, brought about by exactly the threats and issues warned against in this letter.  Come December 2023, the verses of James 1:2-4 were leaving my tongue only slightly less often as “Hello” and “Goodbye” when dealing with church matters. But, praise God, it even bled into reciting it generally in all conversations in and out of the church! 

Having an instructive, practical letter to reference, echoing the challenge of promoting orthodoxy and orthopraxy then as well as today, has proven to be one of the palpable ways I have felt connected to my brothers and sisters who accepted the call to follow Christ in the early days of the church.  It was lamentable to contend with a congregation going sideways through metastasized partiality, worldliness, and unbridled tongues… all endemic to the open denial by a critical mass of members of the authority of the Word and rampant hypocrisy in action that only underscored their sad denial. We used to expect better of ~100 year old churches, but now they too often expect something altogether different than Christ crucified.

In January, we peaceably departed. The two prostitute mothers contending with one another before Solomon was the greatest analog to this troubling dispute. Regardless of outcome, it was clear to me to act like the mother would refused to split the baby at the prompt of the wise King (1 Kings 3:16–28). I was reminded by this letter from James of that “situation in which faith is possible” as Dietrich Bonhoeffer summarizes in The Cost of Discipleship, where “two propositions hold good and are equally true: only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes.”  Because of what our Lord and Savior did for me, I could appeal to the encouragement of James to count that season as joyful in deliverance and earnest in its witness, as opposed to the world simply saying it was a failure and without purpose. It was better than any self-help book someone could offer because the Word is the final God-helps book where we are reminded that the purpose is this, “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27)

[1]  Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013), 336.

[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Collier Books, 1937), 69. 

The Vicious Cycle

Yesterday at church, the prosaic point made was “the struggle is real.” The scripture preached on was Colossians 1:24 - 2:5.

One takeaway verse for this believer was, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Col. 1:29).

I was reminded of why earlier in my life there are those I can clearly remember who warned and taught me with all wisdom so that I may be presented mature in Christ - to borrow from verse 28. There have been “Pauls” in my life that ministered to me toward this moment — of fervent witness and bold proclamation. Is that what “mature in Christ” means? One day I’ll find out.

But Paul channels the motivation in verse 29 to underscore the point of work, the toil, is because we are filled with resurrection power of belief in Christ — the belief that death was defeated by our Lord and Savior. The toil is vicious and the cycle is unending. We seek after the peace that surpasses all understanding, but there may not be any rest stops on the journey where real peace is sold at the soda fountain. The woman at the well learned that much in John 4… it’s about the living water in Christ that quenches thirst.

So while the struggle is certainly real, the promise in our baptism into Christ is assured. And following him won’t make any of us popular in the here and now, even among believers!

My wife and I were discussing Margaret Thatcher last night, and she recalled this quote, “If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

If you find yourself popular among believers, warn and teach them with all wisdom to the contrary, that Christ may win that popularity contest!

And when you’re unpopular with unbelievers or hypocrites, rejoice in the Lord! His struggle was real, until it was really over and accomplished.

The Finer Print

In our litigious society today, so many disputes seem to come down to the fine print. So much is a gotcha of legalese buried in a nondescript paragraph of legalese in waivers most readers both not to read. When jammed into an disagreement, it’s off to comb the depths of the details for that overlooked incidental group of words that will turn the whole issue for one side or another. Liability hangs on what we can hide in the midst of disclosure, and every adversary must now be Sherlock Holmes to sort it out for their own sake.

How sad.

How ungodly.

In fact, this isn’t how God dealt with us. He told Moses at the burning bush, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exod. 3:6) Shortly thereafter engaging Moses to draw the people out, He followed with, “I will be with you.” (Exod. 3:12)

No catch, no disclaimer, no hidden agenda. The deliverance in the exodus bears this out.

This message of God speaking directly to his people expanded at Mount Sinai with the decalogue. “I am the Lord you God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exod. 20:2-3)

The other nine commandments of the law followed. No other oath was necessary to order His people, no other detail of the law was needed to prescribe the framework that would expose our sin. No fine print, no buried language, no tricks.

As we had already been tricked by the serpent in the garden, this was the height of clarity in expectation.

But it would take the promised Savior to reiterate and accommodate.

More than a millennium Jesus would be giving the sermon on the mount, and address truthfulness & transparency. “And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matt. 5:36-37)

Fitting as how, as God incarnate, just after he expelled the money changers in unique righteous indignation he had the authority to say to the Jews questioning him about signs in John 2…

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remember that he had said this, and they believed Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:19-22)

I’m writing this on a Saturday between Good Friday, which was yesterday, and Resurrection Sunday which comes tomorrow.

What a time to remember that it’s the lead we take from the serpent to inject ourselves into the Holy experience and make it our own. Then we think we can author laws, statutes and standards here on earth that subordinate the Law and Gospel of the Bible.

The two men on the road to Emmaus were surely this confused as the promised messiah for the Jews seemed to fizzle out until they were encountered by man in their walk who plainly told them that what Jesus had said had now occurred.

Neither God the Father nor Jesus misspoke or buried the fine print. It’s always been right in front of us out in the open. Nothing hidden.

It’s our free will choosing sin and failure that let’s us think it’s the fine print that matters. The small font buried in the nondescript paragraph that changes the came. In fact the game was out front, in bold, in the flesh, in awe, wonder, and majesty — it takes eyes to see and ears to hear, but it doesn’t take a law degree, it just took grace by faith then, and grace by faith now.

Hallelujah!

The Power of And

One of the most important words in the Bible is surely “and.”

Bear with me for a few examples…

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen. 1:1)

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. (Gen.1:27)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matt. 22:37)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:16)

In our lives I think we take something like “and” for granted. There’s always something else, there’s always a this and that, give and take.

But what God did at the very outset of creation was show His power to distinguish and His authority to join.

What point of separating the heavens from the earth would there have been if not to distinguish heaven from earth?

He created male and female, separate but equal in value in his image. He saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so his solution was “and”.

One of my favorite verses is Matthew 22:37 (not simply for its joined supremacy with love your neighbor as yourself — also another “and” usage), but because of the “and” that combines heart, soul, and mind into the conduit of loving God. We would love in our flesh and pride to say we can fully give over our heart OR soul OR mind, so long as we can keep one of those for ourselves. But guaranteed you’ll go away sorrowful like the rich young ruler if you interpret the commandment to allow for an OR when it clearly states an AND. There is a fullness of imagining what heart + soul + mind avails in devotion to the Father.

John through inspiration joins the truth to the person to the Lord in his opening line… “and” is right there to make it a unique proposition fit for revolutionizing the world around Christ the King.

As we are made for good works, “and” is the assurance of the resurrection power in the great commission to make disciples in the midst of being sent. “And” joins the triune God into conceptual unity and so that baptisms don’t falsely recognize a limit on His holiness. “And” is the glue for the reminder that we are never alone, to the “end of the age.”

The point being that God accomplished so much with the creation of And. It’s a reminder of what the Lord set in motion, but also the succession of His creation. The creation events that follow Genesis 1:1 begin with “And” more many successive verses… because the creation event unfolded as a dynamic whole, rather than parts.

Remember the power of prayer to glorify the God who send His only begotten son to die for the sins of you AND me.

Saint & Sinner

I wrote this as a pre-event devotion for an upcoming youth event and thought I’d also share here…

As Christians, we fit into the mold of both a Saint and a Sinner. We are sinners because we are incapable of fulfilling the law and we are in a constant, daily battle with sinful desires and temptations. We are saints because we have faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness that covers us.

Recognizing that we are both saint and sinner can transform our relationships with other people. Paul reminds us of our mold as a sinner in Romans 3:23.

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

It’s pretty rough if we only look at this verse. It points out that because of our sinfulness, we literally fall short of God’s glory. But rather, Paul starts and ends with the righteousness of God that is imputed on all who believe, even though we are sinners!

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So how does that transform our relationships with others? Just like we are in a constant battle with sin, so are our friends, families, teammates, teachers, Pastors, youth leaders, etc. When someone hurts us or mistreats us, we might only want to fit them into the mold of sinner. But just as Jesus’ blood covers us, His blood covers our neighbor, too – saints! And when we constantly remind ourselves of that, it becomes easier to forgive and love our neighbors just as Christ forgives and loves us.  

He is Laughing at Sin’s Expense

Does God the Father have a sense of humor? But of course, He is the creator God, and humor in one sense is merely a reconciliation of irony with truth. And He authored truth.

Jesus used irony in his ministry, and one example comes in the gospel of John chapter 9 with the story of the blind man. The blind man says to the Pharisees who harangue him, “That is remarkable indeed! You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.” (Jn 9:30) When it comes to what’s revealed by faith, who is blind in this instance, truly? The blind man clarifies to them what they should know (being knowledgeable in the Jewish faith): “Never before has anyone heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could not do anything like this.” (Jn 9:32-33) Jesus later himself leverages the irony for the sake of truth by saying, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” (Jn 9:39) They then continue, foolishly and blindly, to take the bait: Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?” “If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (Jn 9:40-41)

Does the Holy Spirit use irony? I can’t see why not, particularly in the path of discipleship where we can see ourselves through a lens of humility and constantly in His care. This past weekend our church concluded a 7-week teaching series spending one week on each letter from Jesus through the apostle John to the 7 churches in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. The last letter was addressed to the church in Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22). The contents of this letter give us the familiar reference of being lukewarm in faith and thus fit for being spat out. “Would that you were either cold or hot!” (v 15)

Here’s where I think God is laughing with me, and certainly not at me.

I began three new classes for this semester yesterday. Intro to Apologetics, Old Testament Survey, and New Testament survey. The first assignment for this week in New Testament survey is to read a case study example and form an argument based in biblical interpretation to support or deny a hypothetical claim.

Well the case study, hypothetically, involves a Bible Study group, gathered at a coffee shop, where in this instance they are discussing this exact passage about the church at Laodicea with the dispute being the best interpretation of reference of being hot or cold, lest the believers be spat out for being lukewarm.

The fictitious Bible study has some named main characters, a main one being a guy named Daniel. Daniel has some pretty strong thoughts in his interpretation of this passage, in fact based on a loose interpretation of the passage that avoids some reasonable historical theological analysis.

The irony being, the Lord led me to a church in this season, headed by a pastor named Daniel. Pastor Daniel has strong thoughts about the Bible as well, but contrast to the case study’s Daniel, he stresses exegesis so that the context can be a tool to ripple the significance of Jesus’ words today.

Pastor Daniel’s central take on this passage regarding hot or cold was that from their point of origin they represented utility. So “cold” is not necessarily absent the Spirit, and “hot” is not necessarily on fire for Christ. Rather, how useful are we willing to be to the Lord as he exclaims in verse 15? Refreshing and quenching like cool, or soothing and cleansing like hot. Lukewarm serves no purpose and in this story accrued elements of the world that fouls the taste, enough for reported visitors to Laodicea to be made sick by the lukewarm water they imported via aqueduct into their rich city.

That the Lord knew I’d embark on an M.Div. pursuit, register for these classes in this first semester, be brought to a new church where to be preached to about this passage by a faithful pastor through a berean approach to the Bible, so that I’d be well-informed when tasked to articulate an interpretive point of view on this topic… this is His irony. It is not a coincidence. I find the Lord is laughing not at my expense, but that of sin because His words are being revealed to me through earnestness for the sake of others being no longer blind.

The Biggest Winner

Picking up up from the prior post, and as a continuation of the implausibility the world grants The Biggest Loser deserved glory, let’s consider the following from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 1:

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The revolution through redemption brought about by Christ has its analogs today. Yes indeed, the Jews were first sought by Christ himself with His disciples, and then they advanced to gentiles. When the work was finished, the magnitude of the defeat of death remained a tough pill to swallow. It did then, it does now. Jews still wanted the earthly messiah triumph and Greeks wanted to stick with the polytheistic industrial complex as the status quo.

Today can’t similar doubt and folly be seen even if the roles are somewhat reversed?

Traditions present as stumbling blocks amongst believers who otherwise ostensibly ascribe to Christ. But there’s no winning here on earth without the Biggest Winner and in fact, losing happens for a time particularly if we grieve the Spirit which tears so many rote routines like temple curtains.

But how foolish the modern, post-Christian culture tells us it is to take Him at His Word (which is Him)? It’s contradictory, it’s out of touch, out of date, out of step. Best you pick and choose your truth. The world will tell you, best that you love yourself first so that you can properly love God or properly love others. In fact, that’s the folly of the Greeks transposed to today, and presents as a terrible misapplication of the Greatest Commandment.

Stumbling blocks and foolishness were somehow absent in the life of Christ. And He wasn’t the only one hung on a cross, but He was the one in which its power ceased to have terminal effect.

It was said He’d come and do it, He arrived and did it, and returned, proclaimed and proved it — to hundreds of eyewitnesses no less at the testimony of Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Therein, we encounter the Biggest Winner. And He won for you and me so that God may be glorified.

The Biggest Loser

“If a theologian is asked to yield and make concessions so that peace may at last be established in the Church, yet if he refuses to budge on even a single point of doctrine — to human reason this looks like excessive stubbornness, even like downright evil intent. This is why such theologians are rarely loved or praised during their lifetime. On the contrary, they are scolded as disturbers of the peace or even as destroyers of the kingdom of God. They are regarded as men worthy of contempt. But at the end of the day it becomes clear that the very determined, unfailing tenacity of these theologians as they cling to the pure teaching of the divine Word by no means tears down the Church. On the contrary, it is this very attitude that — even amid the greatest dissension — builds up the Church and ultimately brings about genuine peace. Therefore, woe to the Church if it has no men of this stripe — men who would stand watch on the ramparts of Zion, sounding the alarm whenever a foe threatens to rush the walls, men who would rally to the banner of Jesus Christ, ready for a holy war!” — C.F.W. Walther

Them’s fighting words, right? Well, yes and no, but yes. What do I mean by that? Well, what did Walther mean in 1884 when he gave the above reference as the opening to an evening lecture to Lutheran pastors in training?

I think he’s saying to hold the line on fidelity to the Word. I don’t think he’s excluding the prospect of disputable matters, because we have Jesus’ words and examples in the early church of compromise in Christ. We have the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength AND to love your neighbor as yourself.

I think Walther is getting at the principle of false witness. I think he is promoting Biblical inerrancy, Biblical reliance, and Biblical sufficiency. And not to make us great, but rather to exalt He who was, and is, and is to come.

I think what he espoused tracks with what Paul comprehensively told through his epistles to the likes of Timothy and Titus — the truth of Christ Jesus matters most and the call to follow Christ Jesus matters most. Most + Most = ?

Refreshingly, I’ve been attending a weekly men’s Bible Study moving through Paul’s letter to Titus. It is believed that this letter was written after 1 Timothy and before 2 Timothy, and together they serve as pastoral epistles. Paul wrote these to colleagues in ministry to edify, encourage, and equip these men for promoting Christian order in the burgeoning young churches spreading in the Mediterranean.

Regarding discernment, these letters address qualities to look for in those aspiring to build His church. Regarding leadership, they address the fruitful qualities of those ready for servant leadership and those who aren’t (and in humility this convicts first the reader of the epistle as much it projects a standard to govern). Regarding disposition and dissolution, the letters instruct that too.

Paul knew that the truth divides. It divided him from a prior existence of persecutor of the faith to promoter of the gospel. When the scales fell from his eyes, I believe fidelity was among the gifts he received in the work the Lord would do through him, inclusive of the instruction for the likes of Timothy, Titus, and pastors to follow to speak truth in love… to a point. The point being Jesus.

We witness, but Jesus saves.

Titus 1:15-16 says , “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.” As this convicts the reader it also encourages that reader in a pastoral quality of discernment as we are to be known by our fruits and to accept that again, it’s Jesus who saves. We are to witness, even when we can’t define the most basic terms with our counterpart.

If you’ve run a process of promoting true doctrine in Christ Walther’s way (which is NOT to weaponize but rather be vigilant), Paul has further instruction for us after prescribing acting in all good faith. In chapter 2:11-15 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

Verse 15 is where I think Walther intersects with Paul. You will be called a disturber of the peace if you declare Christ as Lord, particularly when in leadership. When you promote that central premise anchored in Biblical truth, even in mainline protestant churches that say they stand on Sola Scriptura expect you’ll be hated. I know because that is endemic to the deliverance from my prior congregation when the human “help on the horizon” turned into a wanton shame game for the sake of political expediency. In the midst of this trial, I did rebuke a brother against a proposition of said expediency, because it did in fact introduce doctrinal compromise and besmirched His church regarding truth and congregational care.

But, to be honest, realizing afterward such differences of opinion for governance left me feeling like the biggest loser. How could earnest leaders land so far apart on an issue of reasonable clarity? Until I remembered that we’re charged with witnessing of Christ, not getting stuck in debates. Our model is to witness, and not deny Him. The pastoral epistles instruct us how to organize & witness in dynamic fashion. We will be known by our fruits because He sees our fruits, and dismisses the lies anyone will say or spread… even the most implausible, reprehensible, awful things that are put out about you to tear you down in another’s tall poppy torment.

After all, they are really attacking His church when your witness in Christ is true, and thus vigilance matters as Walther said, and disposition moments occur as Paul instructs. Paul says to Titus in Chapter 3, “9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” But still Jesus saves, so let Him do the saving.

It was Jesus who told his disciples what to do when they weren’t received, and that was to dust of sandals and depart (Matt. 10:14).

He later said in verse 25 “It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!”

So the world already had its attempt to crown the biggest loser, and what He did on the cross showed He is the inevitable, indisputable victor. That’s the fidelity we are called to maintain, and not compromise, not one inch.

Praise the Lord!

TEN, FOUR, or ZERO

You know the phrase, “Sharing is caring.” Well, I’ll contend that the inverse is similarly true: caring is sharing.

On today’s podcast episode (ep 4) there is some personal narrative that I share that in this post I’ll tie in with the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25: 14-30.

For your reference (and mine!): 14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

In our capacity for awe, what do we fear the master will do? One servant among the three, through fear lacking in awe, demonstrably fails to make of his talent something more. He failed to care to share.

I don’t want to be that servant any more.

The Father cared enough about me to share His son, and His son cared enough for the Father to provide himself in exchange for us. That is the currency in the talents the servants have been handed by the Master — the good news that is meant to be multiplied. Burying it in the dirt demonstrates that there’s a shelf life for this good news, this currency of redemption. Multiple times Jesus says in Revelation that he is “coming soon.”

Proverbs 9:10-12 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.”

That fear in the proverb isn’t necessarily the terror at our God who is justice. The story of grace starts early in Scripture, and carries through to today in faith, hope, and love.

At some point in time, some other servant, whether it was from their 5 talents or 2, penned the song This Little Light of Mine. And it became part of the currency of faith shared where it somehow reached your ears, and with those ears you had the ears to hear what else had been said to you already, for His glory. If you find yourself in a place, like me, where you convinced you ought not be the servant who buries their one talent, start with that song… this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine… and then you’re caring about sharing.

Do for (the) One

About 10 years ago I went to a Catalyst West conference at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA. I can’t quite recall if I went once, twice, or three times altogether, but it had its impact at the time. It’s where I first heard and saw All Sons and Daughters play, when they were on their way up. It was where Dallas Willard gave my wife and I a great proverb and demonstration of faith that we continue to recite to one another to this day (I’ll make that the subject of another post). And it was the first exposure I had to the likes of pastors Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley. Catalyst certainly revolved around a mission for spreading the gospel, and these two pastors were close to its nucleus through accessible, motivational preaching and teaching.

This isn’t a post to assess where I have or have not observed those two as pastors since then, admittedly other than mentions in news, outside of those conferences I didn’t follow them in particular. Which probably serves to more easily highlight something Andy Stanley promoted one of those times we were hearing him speak, because I took it and kept it as a motivational instrument for some years afterward. It was such a good quote at the time, I am glad I didn’t muddle it with a bunch of other pithy encouragements.

He said, “Do for one what you wish you could do for many.”

It served as a great relief to bring the practical application of evangelism into plain pragmatism. Especially at a “hip” conference at a massive church, in a venue fit for motivating many people, it drew down that truth of the one in the 99 that the shepherd is willing to seek out to save.

As I’ve pondered the point in years since, I’ve recognized that I’ve taken that proverb of motivation and at times made it into a work. Escaping works-based righteousness is common for us all, to know that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone through scripture alone in Christ alone to glorify God alone is our true religion.

So lately I’ve developed a hybrid mentality to applying this wisdom that Andy Stanley offered. Yes, it remains certainly consistent with the latter part of the greatest commandment to “do for one what you wish you could do for many” as supporting “love your neighbor as yourself.” The lateral application of agape love should reach out to your brother and sister without expectation that it turns into anything more massive that encouraging them in the faith and meeting them in their needs.

But let’s not forget the prior art in the greatest commandment, that is as Jesus articulated in Matt. 22 to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Before we, through altruism, maneuver to do for that one here on earth, we should remember that it’s by His grace that we are able at all to do for that one here on earth.

So, in the fearful love of God the Father, with all our heart + mind + soul, made righteous by the blood of Christ Jesus, our faith becomes the response of obedience to the Lord through love so that we might do for many. He is our hope and strength to make disciples of all nations.

Please Read the Letter

I should have known better. Perhaps I did!

Alison Krauss & Robert Plant told me so in the very least. Their song as named in the title of this post goes from verse into chorus with the lyrics, “Please read the letter, I wrote it in my sleep, with help and consultation from angels in the deep. Please read the letter that I wrote.”

Of course, the song itself has their harmonies delivering the plea, rather that my quote in a blog, so I recommend a listen if you’ve never heard their duets.

Back to the topic at hand, moving through my hermeneutics textbook, we’ve gone from Old Testament into New Testament, through the gospels and into Paul’s epistles and the similar letters. A great takeaway is to remember that these are specific correspondence letters written from his pastoral encounter with the various audiences and churches, from the Ephesians, to Corinthians, et al.

That they serve as the inspired, inerrant word of God is such a blessing to us in revealing His truth and promoting our relationship with Christ.

Part of that blessing does tether us to the context of how these letters were written to a specific people, at a specific place, in a specific time, regarding one or several specific issues.

The advice I’ve taken from improving my interpretation is to avoid going too abruptly to the chosen verse or phrase in favor of giving over the time necessary to read the respective letter.

Imagine you receive a letter from someone you have a personal relationship with. You don’t jump 2/3rds of the way through the contents as if it were a treatise or textbook. In fact, because it’s so personally-directed, a wholesome intake of the entire body of the letter naturally suits the reader/recipient so that the most cogent points may land in their fullness. How Paul frames his epistles often tells us the pertinence of the writing and explains the circumstance, both temporal and topical.

A good frame houses the picture, and often together they are seen as a whole rather than an arbitrary structure to place an image within.

A personal example can be taken from serving in a congregation last year in the laity. Walking in the process to seek out fruitful prospective leaders for His bride, the pastoral epistles drew increasing focus from me to best understand and confirm the character of a servant. What accumulated was a season of disagreement that these epistles mattered (if not the authority of the Bible altogether for the sake of preferences and tradition [but that’s a whole other Oprah]), but what convicted me throughout was to remember that, in the case of Titus for example, Paul was writing to Titus, not to me. Instructions given over to Titus were for the situation the two pastors were contending with in the growing new church of the late 1st century AD. Setting aside the fact that in his will, a consensus to even put the Word on the highest footing was elusive in this episode, God worked His will for the order I believe He wanted. He wanted disciples, and so I know at last I followed Christ, taking up a cross in the process.

That’s why each epistle deserves to be read in its fullness. Though it was Paul writing to Titus, or Timothy, or a church, it is the Word of God written to us as Christ followers so that we may know His fullest grace extended to us by faith in Christ Jesus.

Coming into a bible study early this year, that happened to be on the letter to Titus, I was reminded that the weapon of the word is to convict my own heart to be of the characteristic spoken of in these letters in the context they launch from. So yes, they speak to discernment, it speaks to the approach to promoting doctrine, and yes, even instructions to Titus related to rebukes and standards are present. But I appreciate that the context doesn’t make it my weapon to wield in a legalist’s inquisition, but a weapon to counteract sin in my life that the pastoral epistles may have their intended effect. The whole letter then makes this plain where a jump to one verse absent the spirit of the context might short circuit the purpose.

Let’s encourage the habit to read the whole letter as often as possible alongside the reference of the target scripture so that the fullness of meaning may reach our heart and impart the complete blessing!

Tales from Sardis

We are meant to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden as the Lord taught in the sermon on the mount in Matt. 5:14-16. And yet, a city on a hill is exactly the target of the enemy. It comes with a nice view, typically fortified on top of favorably topography, and ultimately serves as a wonderful trophy in the ongoing warfare of conquest in the earthly realm.

Taking away lessons learned yesterday from church, we read through Revelation 3:1-6. This encompassed the letter Jesus dictated to the apostle John to send to the church of Sardis. It goes without saying the photo I chose for this post isn’t Sardis itself. It’s Orvieto, located in Tuscany, Italy. But as a stand in for Sardis, it will do!

As we learned, the city of Sardis was known at one point a really big deal in Asia Minor, if not one of the most influential cities altogether over many centuries BC. By location and design, it was that city on a hill and leveraged its fortification and fruitfulness to project influence in its region. More often that not, it was able to thwart threats thanks to its intrinsic defenses and steadfastness. Cyrus’ siege of Sardis in 549 BC provides a useful analog to the pursuit the enemy has on the many “cities on a hill” today in the population of long-established churches (be they congregations or denominations). Through Cyrus’ patience and cunning, a small weakness exposed through a lone, sleeping guard on a secret passage into the city provided the access needed to catalyze the takeover. This chink in the armor of the city’s defenses was the critical weakness that would give the city over to Persian conquest. Overwhelming force doesn’t always arrive like Omaha beach in Normandy.

The rise and fall of the city of Sardis is analogous to our own walk in dependence on Christ. We may be built up over time, but if we begin to rest on our laurels or point pridefully to fruit without realizing the impact of His providence and protection, we became vain and hollow. If we are to let hubris manifest because we review ourselves as established by anything other than His authority through grace, we are deceiving ourselves into a lull where a siege will come. Jesus’ rebuke of Sardis set aside His knowledge of their works, and their earthly reputation of being alive. It was all in the past, and the Lord was holding them accountable in the present that they may be spotless in the future. He knows best if we are walking in the Word AND the Spirit. If, as a believer, you have one without the other, beware, repent. If as a church you meander toward one without the other, watch out. We are called to remember what we heard, and repent.

He comes like a thief in the night, so today is the day to take stock in our readiness. Are we repentant? Really and truly? So that Christ alone remains our hope?

Do you cast off your resume, reputation, and rewards on earth for discipleship? Let’s not each of us be the sorrowful rich young ruler unwilling to part from accumulated glories in the flesh.

How about as a body in Christ? Does your church marry the word and the spirit together? Or does it just say it does. As our pastor reiterated to our assembly yesterday, “a church with only word and no spirit will shrivel up, a church with all spirit and no word will blow up, and a church with both word and spirit will grow up.”

It gets me back to the point of Psalm 1 as it sets out the psalter and I reflect on the draft exegesis paper I just submitted for class… if we delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, we are meeting his commandment with the power of the Holy Spirit. What a gift!

It’s not programs, attendance, vision statements, business acumen, budget surpluses, or anything else that becomes the fruitful representation of Christ Jesus… it’s the pure discipleship. Love God, love others.

With repentance, the church in Sardis would be that tree of Psalm 1, planted by streams of water (and transplanted really for no tree plants itself!), bearing its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.

Even in the rebuke, this letter in Revelation tells us the Holy Spirit can’t be killed, even though He must not be grieved. That remnant even in a dying church like Sardis, where the Word and Spirit is represented by small number of people who have not soiled their garments, who themselves are repentant… they will be walking with the Lord as he finds them worthy.

With its mention of the book of life, Jesus focuses in on repentance as an intersection of law and gospel. There is conviction of our dying nature and gospel glory through faith in Him alone… if ever there was a cautionary tale, it was this letter from the Lord to the church in Sardis.

Interpreting the Imprint

In the renewed pursuit of higher education, specifically that of the Masters degree I seek to obtain, the meaningful hurdle arrives soon in the first draft of an exegesis paper I’ll be writing on Psalm 1.

From the NIV, “1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Commonly ascribed to David as the author, the six verses say a lot about ordering oneself under the Father. I look forward to the task of analyzing the historical context, cultural, and literary contexts that give accuracy (I pray) to the interpretation I’ll present.

For the moment, however, how does this Psalm, through the Holy Spirit, speak to me? How might it speak to you?

From verse one, blessing reaches the one who “does not walk in step” with the wicked. As we know, Jesus co-mingled among sinners, but never appropriated sinful behavior to stoop down to unrighteousness. We’ll never withdraw sufficiently on earth to be devoid of some sin in any context, after all we bring it in to any situation through our own unrighteousness through pride et al. But verse one provide effective caution to point forward to when Jesus will discuss the selectivity of justice through descriptions such as the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14). “Walking in step with” or “stand in the way that” points to a subscription to the flesh that subordinates the law. If sanctification means something to you as a believer, this first verse is a great guideline to recognize temptation and avoid sin. Verse 2 poetically concludes the initial point that the “law of the Lord” brings delight, particularly through constant meditation. Here we can take instruction that legalism isn’t the call to action, but personal conviction of our own heart through regular meditative relationship with God.

Verse 3 takes up the ecology motif so common throughout Scripture so that we can promptly recognize the example of strength in faith. When I walk through Point Fermin park near our house, it juts out enough to still have a lighthouse on it, but the park itself is recognizable by numerous massive fig trees, each easily over 100 years old. These trees are akin to the description in Verse 3, their impressive, they are known by their fruit, and they seem to endure the municipal seasons of Los Angeles parks and rec.

“Not so the wicked!” brings a contradiction to the opposite binary image. As winter rains have passed through recently, this season has brought wind as well. Imagine the tumble weeds rolling along in the midst or aftermath of this kind of weather. Just like chaff, these victims of circumstance lack a rooted foundation, and are so typically lifeless, brittle, and dead on appearance.

If we take on a satisfaction to be blown about in this manner, we are accepting a fate that upon judgment, will bring eternal consequences. Verse 5 connects the uprooted compost fodder to the way sinners will stand out in the assembly of the righteous.

Now, we know, by grace through faith through Scripture through Christ we glorify God alone, and it’s Christ who makes us righteousness by his death and resurrection. What a gift. And thanks to the gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 1-5, we know that Jesus was with the Father in the beginning and is with the Father watching over the righteous, what sweet relief to know it’s not up to my power, or your power, or really our mutual lack of it, to save.

What remains at the end of verse 6 as we involve ourselves in the present fallen world where the truth of Jesus is known and we pray spreading, we have the accurate, reliable, faithful forecast to avoid the “way of the wicked that leads to destruction.” That way of the wicked traces all the way back to the first sin in the garden when the crafty serpent convinced Adam and Eve that God’s command was open to interpretation for our benefit. It isn’t.

Rather, as the apostle John wrote in John 1 verse 4-5, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

The law is indeed written on our hearts, but your future is in the hands of Jesus Christ.