Using Words
Often, we talk about how we use words. So, for instance, many people will say, “We don’t go to church; we are the church.”
But, one of the first things we often ask other believers is this: “Where do you go to church?”
If we ask that question, aren’t we perpetuating the idea that “church” is a place you go?
So, what question should we be asking?
God is holy and here
God is holy… separate. His holiness separates him from all other creatures and all of creation.
But, God is here… near… close. His love brings him to his creation.
I love these kinds of paradoxes.
But, this also reminds me that I am called to be both holy and near.
Tired of the “church experience”
I just read this in an old comment on one of my posts:
I think the best thing that could happen in the Church is if the “leaders†had to sit for a good extended period of time among all the others in the pews. They would quickly see why so many Christians are tired of their Church experience.
What do you think?
Four Very Good Questions
My friend Adam at “Adamic” has asked four very good question in his post “In my mind.” Here are his questions:
- Should churches be smallish, totally participatory, and more “organic”? Or does the Bible teach a more structured church gathering, with a preacher and (mostly) without verbal participation from the congregation? Or does it teach neither and allow for either?
- How much “liturgy” is unhelpful? Is there a place in a Baptist church for regular, even if not weekly, recitation of an ancient creed and/or the Lord’s Prayer?
- On a related note, how can we Baptists point to the collective, universal church in our services? And should we broaden our corporate prayer to include more intentional prayer for those outside of our church and even outside of the Church?
- And, here’s a fun one, what exactly is the gospel? Is it primarily about how we’re saved, or is it that Jesus is Lord?
Why not jump over to his blog and share your own answers?
John 5:39-40 and another purpose of Scripture
In yesterday’s post, I said that one of the purposes of Scripture is good works. (See “2 Timothy 3:16-17 and one of the purposes of Scripture“) Today, I want to look at another purpose of Scripture, this one coming from John 5:39-40:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40 ESV)
In this passage, Jesus is giving the Pharisees a list of those who testify about him. Here, he points them to Scripture. The Pharisees accept Scripture, and they study Scripture, but they have not allowed Scripture to point them to Jesus.
Thus, once again we see that Scripture itself is not the goal. The Pharisees studied Scripture, but they missed the goal of Scripture, which, in this case, is Jesus.
But, did Jesus only expect the Pharisees to find him in Scripture? No. Remember the story of Jesus walking along the road with two of his disciples (yes, there were more than 12) after his death and resurrection? This is what he said:
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 ESV)
So, Jesus showed them how various passages in the Law and the Prophets pointed to him. (By the way, Jesus does not say that every passage of Scripture is about him. Instead, this passage says that he pointed to those passages in “all the Scriptures” that did concern him.)
Once again we see that Jesus did no expect Scripture to be an end in itself. Studying Scripture for the sake of studying Scripture – for the sake of knowing exactly what Scripture says – is not the goal of a follower of Jesus Christ. Just as we saw earlier that one goal of Scripture is to produce good works in those who read it, we can also see now that Scripture points to Jesus.
By the way, like Paul, Jesus was talking about the Hebrew Scriptures – the Old Testament. Just as Paul thought the Old Testament should lead a believer toward good works, Jesus said the Old Testament should point a reader to himself.
Seems obvious, doesn’t it? But, this should be a reminder that our goal is not to get people to Scripture, but to Jesus. Scripture may be a tool in that process.
Confucius gets it right
Sometimes the church can learn from secular and pagan philosophers. My son found this quote:
“Tell me and I will forget; Show me and I will remember; Involve me and I will understand†– Confucius
Do you think the church can learn from this? What can we learn? How do we implement it?
Dallas Willard on Assessing Spiritual Growth
There is a very interesting interview with Dallas Willard at Out of Ur called “Dallas Willard on How We Assess Spiritual Growth.” The interview begins like this:
How can churches know if they are being effective at making disciples?
Many churches are measuring the wrong things. We measure things like attendance and giving, but we should be looking at more fundamental things like anger, contempt, honesty, and the degree to which people are under the thumb of their lusts. Those things can be counted, but not as easily as offerings.
How are those things assessed? Willard says that certain tools can be helpful, but only in the context of “a deep fellowship of trust.” Very interesting interview… you should read it.
Have you ever been part of a “deep fellowship of trust”? How did you assess one another’s spiritual growth?
2 Timothy 3:16-17 and one of the purposes of Scripture
If you look up blog posts and journal articles and books about 2 Timothy 3:16-17, you’ll find alot of discussion about inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy. There are important discussion, but I don’t think Paul wrote that passage to Timothy in order to answer those questions.
First, look at the passage again:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
Yes, Paul mentions “inspiration” (literally, “God-breathed”), but he uses it as an adjective to describe Scripture. He does not argue for inspiration.
So, why did Paul write this sentence to Timothy? To show one of the purposes of Scripture. What purpose?
Paul tells Timothy that Scripture can be useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness. But, teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness is the “end” or “goal” for Paul. These are means to the goal.
What is that goal? So that God’s children (“man” does not refer to “males” here, but to people in general) may be prepared for good works. Did you catch that? The goal of teaching is not to be educated. The goal of correcting is not to be correct. The goal of rebuking is not to be straightened out. The goal of training is not to be able.
The goal of all of these things is good works.
If we teach people Scripture so they can quote, and correct their understanding using Scripture, and rebuke them where they’re wrong using Scripture, and train them in what Scripture says… if we do all these things, we have not used Scripture in the way that Paul intended it in this passage. Instead, the goal of teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training is that God’s children would do good works.
So, one of the purposes of Scripture is good works.
Of course, this should not surprise us, since good works is also the purpose of our mutual encouragement. Remember this passage from Hebrews?
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works… (Hebrews 10:24 ESV)
We shouldn’t be afraid of good works. No one is saved by their works, but that does not mean that good works are not important. They are extremely important. In fact, we all know that James says that faith without works is dead. This is usually contrasted with Paul’s teaching about salvation by grace through faith, but the contrast is not valid:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)
Paul writes about grace and faith, but also good works.
So, if you as a child of God want to learn Scripture, see that it leads to good works. If you want to understand Scripture, see that the understanding leads to good works.
Why? Because one of the purposes of Scripture is to lead God’s children toward doing good works.
Continued proclamation about the kingdom of God in Acts
Have you ever noticed how the Book of Acts starts:
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3 ESV)
There are two things I want to point out: 1) Luke’s first book (the Gospel of Luke) dealt with “all the Jesus began to do and teach” which indicates that this book (Acts) deals with what Jesus continued to do and teach. 2) After Jesus’ resurrection, he talked to many people about the kingdom of God.
And the end of Acts, we read this passage:
He [Paul] lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (Acts 28:30-31 ESV)
Again, there are two things that I’d like to bring up: 1) Paul taught about Jesus with boldness and without hindrance even though he was under house arrest. 2) Paul, as with Jesus earlier, was proclaiming the kingdom of God.
Thus, at the beginning of Acts and the end of Acts (as well as several other places in the book – Acts 1:6, 8:12, 14:22, 19:8, 20:25, 28:23) we see the importance of speaking about and proclaiming the kingdom of God. Furthermore, we see that this type of proclamation is a continuation of what Jesus was doing and that the proclamation was unhindered even when the one proclaiming was imprisoned.
It seems, then, that Luke intended his second volume to be a treatise on the expansion of the kingdom of God. However, Luke did not intend Acts to be a treatise on the beginning of the kingdom. His Gospel explained that Jesus was the beginning of the kingdom of God. Similarly, Luke did not intend Acts to be a treatise on the end of the expansion of the kingdom. Instead, the kingdom continues to be proclaimed at the end of the book.
From just after Luke finished writing Acts until today, a reader would get the idea that the kingdom of God continues to expand and therefore must continue to be proclaimed. The reader would close the book seeing himself or herself as the one to proclaim the kingdom.
There are obviously other themes in the book of Acts (i.e. dependence on the Spirit, the kingdom community created by the Spirit, the gospel’s defeat of worldly systems), but we should never overlook the emphasis on the proclamation and expansion of the kingdom of God. This, along with many other aspects of the book of Acts, makes the book a missionary book, in the sense that those reading the book recognize that they are “sent” (apostello, missio).
So… you are sent to proclaim the kingdom of God and to see the kingdom of God expand.
(By the way, did you notice that we’ll only see this theme if we read the entire book, not just memorize one verse or passage?)
Parents and Children
For the next few Sundays, our elders will be leading discussions on various topics. For the last two weeks, we’ve been talking about the gospel and the basics of Christianity. Next week, I’m leading a discussion on parents and children.
I plan to focus the discussion on discipleship – not behavior modification. In other words, what are the parents’ and children’s roles in discipling one another. Are the roles one way?
Similarly, as followers of Jesus Christ, we desire God-honoring relationships with both our parents and our children. What should these relationships look like, especially for grown children?
While I’ve looked into this topic for myself, I was wondering if my readers had any suggestions or comments concerning parents and children. If so, please share with us in the comments.