The Foolishness of the Gospel and the "Insanity" of Jesus

* A devotional I penned for our church bulletin.

A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.  Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane.  Why do you listen to him?”  Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed.  A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”

John 10.19-21

Jesus’ words and actions caused divisions among his contemporaries (John 7.43; 9.16).  Think of this—the greatest man to ever live, with the greatest teaching to ever grace the ears of mankind—he caused division.  What I find most amazing is that the greatest teacher communicating pure truth is accused of being “insane!”  The One from God is thought to be demon-possessed.  Talk about a complete misunderstanding of Jesus!

We should take comfort from this passage.  Sometimes we can feel like we don’t know enough to share the gospel with others.  We worry and wonder, “What if I say something wrong or I can’t answer all their questions?”  We need to remember that there is no “perfect” gospel encounter.  Not even Jesus’ teaching met with total acceptance.  The measure of our success in sharing the gospel is not whether everyone agrees or accepts it.  The measure of success has to be on whether we faithfully represent the message of Jesus Christ.  Our goal should be to please Him.  This was Jesus’ goal—he wanted to please the Father and speak only what the Father told him (John 5.19; 14.9-11, 24).  Jesus didn’t seek the favor of men but the glory of God (John 5.44).  This meant that not everyone accepted the teaching from Jesus.  He caused divisions because he was faithful to the Father. 

He was also willing to be seen as “insane” for the sake of the gospel.  Too often I find in myself a kind of pride that doesn’t want to face rejection.  I want to be accepted and seen as someone who is rational.  Who wants to be dismissed as foolish or naïve?  We need to be reminded that the gospel message is foolishness to those who do not believe.  The message of the cross of Jesus is seen as weak and ineffectual by the world.  As the apostle Paul puts it—“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…” (1 Corinthians 1.18).  But it is precisely this message of the cross in all its “foolishness” that God loves to use to save people and bring them to himself.  Here is how Paul states the matter:

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  –1 Corinthians 1.21

This “foolish” message is the power of God for salvation for those who believe and God is “well-pleased” to use this preached message to save people.  So let us not be ashamed of this message.  Let us boldly follow Jesus’ example of being willing to be seen as foolish for the sake of the gospel message.  Let us faithfully open our mouths for the sake of Jesus so that others may come to know him.

Slavery in the New Testament: A Few Comments

* I'm preaching through 1 Peter so I wrote up the following brief piece for our church bulletin to explain some of the background on the issue of slavery in the New Testament.  It's not meant to be exhaustive but it does give some further resources for study.

The New Testament mentions slavery.  Critics of the Bible have sometimes latched onto these texts as alleged evidence of the inferiority of the Bible ethics.  Why doesn’t the New Testament speak against slavery?  It seems to endorse the status quo.  So goes the challenge.  What can be said in response to such challenges?  Here a few items to consider…

1.     We need to properly contextualize slavery in the New Testament.  Simply mentioning a practice does not mean God condones or endorses the practice.  Paul urges Christians to honor the government but this doesn’t mean he condones everything the government does (Romans 13.1-7).

2.     The culture of the time did not allow for large-scale revolution on the issue of slavery.  Christians had to navigate the times with wisdom and engage in a longer-term project of undercutting slavery.  By some estimates 85-90% of the inhabitants of Rome and the Italian peninsula were slaves or of slave origins.  During the first century Caesar Augustus passed laws governing the number and ages of slaves who legitimately be set free.  It is helpful to remember also that in 73 BC Spartacus led a slaves revolt and this caused the general populace to look with fearful suspicion on any who would potentially foment opposition to slavery. 

3.     It needs to also be remembered that the Christian communities to which Peter wrote were being increasingly seen in a negative light.  Their lifestyles and refusal to fully endorse the gods brought them into conflict with the dominant culture.  This leads Dr. Steven Tracy to write:

What then could Christian slaves (who had no legal rights regarding their masters' abuse) and Christian citizens (who stood on the cusp of legal prosecution for their faith) do when experiencing abuse? Their best response was to let their godly behavior challenge unjust treatment and unjust slander, which is precisely what Peter repeatedly prescribes (2:12,1&-20; 3:16).[1]  

4.     There are ways that the New Testament expresses both direct and subtle opposition to slavery.  In 1 Timothy 1.9-10 and Revelation 18.11-13 kidnapping for the purpose of slavery is spoken against and presented in a negative light and worthy of judgment.  In 1 Corinthians 7.20-22 the apostle Paul encourages slaves to acquire freedom if possible.  In Ephesians chapter six when Paul mentions slaves and masters he does not quote Scripture as he does when discussing the other aspects of the household such as husbands/wives and fathers/children.  The marital and family bonds between men/women and parents/children were created by God so Paul can quote Scriptures about those relationships.  Slavery is an institution not created by God so the lack of a Scriptural citation is subtle but significant.

5.     The equality within the church tended to undercut the nature of slavery.  What is noteworthy is that slaves are addressed by Paul and Peter in their letters.  This dignified them as part of the church of Christ.  This was also different from the moral codes of the time outside the church.  As one biblical scholar writes:

The reason for this difference between 1 Peter and other moral codes of his time is simple.  For society at large slaves were not full persons and thus did not have moral responsibility.  For the church slaves were full and equal persons, and thus quite appropriately addressed as such.[2]

There are seemingly even slave names mentioned by Paul in his conclusion to the book of Romans when he is thanking and commending those who are worthy of mention in the church.  “The names of those mentioned in Romans 16 suggest that many had been slaves.  Andronicus [v. 7] and Urbanus [v.9] were exclusively slave names in the literature and inscriptions of Paul’s day.”[3]

6.     It should also be noted that the symbolic actions of the early church tended to undermine the dominant culture’s ideas of slavery.  The holy kiss and the language of “brothers” and “sisters” reinforced the larger family dynamic of the church.  Masters addressing slaves as “brother” would begin to subtly overturn the overt power structures of the relationship.  The words of biblical scholar F. F. Bruce regarding the letter of Philemon seem to apply more broadly to these kind of relational dynamics as well:

What this letter does [and I would argue these practices—RJK] is to bring us into an atmosphere in which the institution [of slavery] could only wilt and die.[4]

Yes, the New Testament mentions slavery but within the message and actions of the church are the seeds of slavery’s destruction.

Resources for further study:

1.     “Slavery in the Bible: Some Perspectives on a Difficult Topic.”  This is a Bible study I did last year on the topic of slavery.  It covers details of OT and NT slavery.  It also has some more resources listed in the bibliography.  Online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2015/11/slavery-in-bible-some-perspectives-on.html

2.     The Humanization of Slavery in the Old Testament, edited by Thomas Schirrmacher.  This is a collection of three essays that give perspective on slavery in the Bible, history and today.  Very good research and reasoning.  Online: http://www.bucer.de/fileadmin/dateien/Dokumente/Buecher/WoT_8_-_Thomas_Schirrmacher__ed.__-_The_Humanization_of_Slavery_in_the_OT.pdf

---

     [1] Steven Tracy, “Domestic Violence in the Church and Redemptive Suffering” Calvin Theological Journal 41 (2006), 290.  Available online: http://mendingthesoul.org/wp-content/uploads/DV-in-Church-1-Peter.pdf

     [2] Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter—The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990), 105.

     [3] A. A. Rupprecht, “Slave, Slavery” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1993), 882.

     [4] F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977), 401.

God and Politics: A Few Reflections

* A piece I wrote for our weekly church bulletin to go along with the sermon on 1 Peter 2.13-17.

The arena of politics can be difficult to navigate.  Now throw theology in the mix and the difficulties seem to multiply.  Yet, God has given us his Word and he speaks to the political realm in a number of different passages.  Today passage—1 Peter 2.13-17—is one such passage that gives us direction on how to reason as Christians.  As will be mentioned in the sermon today, we need to apply God’s unchanging principles to changing circumstances.  Within the history of the church Christians have had to live under varying political realities: monarchies, oligarchies, parliaments, tyrants, and democratic systems.  These differing political realities still require the people of God to heed God’s timeless instructions.

A helpful essay is Attitudes Towards the State in Western Theological Thinking by Torleiv Austad in the October 1990 issue of Themelios.  Here are a few select quotations from Austad’s piece:

From the NT texts which speak of the life of the Christian in the world, we may draw the following conclusions for understanding the mandate and limits of the state: First, the mandate of the state is to deal with and regulate the common social, political, and economic life of society.  Secondly, the state has the right to require taxes from the citizens to be able to take care of some of the common needs, such as food and clothing, work and social welfare, law and justice.  Thirdly, the state has to take care of and reward those who are doing right and to punish those who are doing wrong.  Thus the state is on the way to fulfilling its mandate of administering justice.  If the state pretends to give itself divine attributes and becomes involved in people’s relationship with God, it goes beyond its limits. It is also a transgression of those limits when a state offends elementary civil rights, especially when it restrains freedom of conscience.  In addition, a just state, i.e. a state which functions in accordance with its mandate, may not be totalitarian in terms of claiming sovereignty in all areas of life without crossing the line and entering into injustice and demonic power.

The task of the church over against the state is threefold: First, the church has to remind the state of its mandate and limits.  Secondly, the church should encourage the citizens, Christians included, to co-operate with the actual state as far as it is true to its calling.  Thirdly, because the state is constantly tempted to become totalitarian and degenerate, the church and Christians are called to be critical of every state and evaluate its functions on the basis of ethical premises. (p. 20)

Austad goes on to note that in the New Testament the state is given neither principled renunciation nor uncritical acceptance.  He writes:

The apparently contradictory attitude can be illustrated by comparing Romans 13 and Revelation 13.  In both cases Christians are confronted with the Roman state.  While the governing authorities according to Romans 13 respect elementary civil rights, the same state in Revelation 13—about forty years later—is seen as the beast from the abyss.  Therefore the attitude of Christians has changed from obedience to disobedience.  Within the eschatological horizon of the NT the relationship between Christians and the governing authorities is never fixed; it is complex, sensitive and changing. (p. 22)

The interface between the church and the state can be tricky.  Faithfully navigating through all the twists and turns of both cultural and political analysis as well as critically engaging in rigorous biblical and theological thinking is difficult.  Even when Christians agree on fundament principles from God’s word there may still be disagreements on how to best apply those principles to concrete problems and situations.  May God give us the grace and wisdom to faithfully pursue righteous and justice in all that we do—including in the realm of politics.

What Is an "Evangelical?"

* Written for a segment called the "Pastor's Pen" for our weekly church bulletin.

Last week someone in the congregation asked me a great question that I thought would be good to answer in this week’s Pastor’s Pen.  You will notice that each week we pray for a nation of the world.  This week we are praying for Nigeria.  Added in the information given are the population numbers for “Christians” and “evangelicals.”  The question I received had to do with the definition of “evangelical”—“What is the definition of an evangelical in distinction from Christian?” 

The word “evangelical” is derivative from the word “evangel” (from the Greek word euangellion) which is the gospel.  British theologian Alister McGrath helpfully notes:

Evangelical is thus the term chosen by evangelicals to refer to themselves, as representing most adequately the central concern of the movement for the safeguarding and articulation of the evangel—the good news of God which has been made known and made possible in Jesus Christ.

The book Operation World and its smaller, abridged version Pray for the World are resources used to reference the population numbers in our “Pray for the World” section in our bulletin.  There is also an online listing of the nations to pray for everyday at http://www.operationworld.org/.  The Operation World website has the following definitions which are used to inform their work:

            Christian

Anyone who professes to be Christian. The term embraces all traditions and confessions of Christianity. It is no indicator of the degree of commitment or theological orthodoxy. The primary emphasis utilized is that of recognizing self-identification as well as accepting the Scriptural principles illustrated in Matt 10:32 and Romans 10:9.

Evangelicals

All who emphasize and adhere to all four of the following:

•                The Lord Jesus Christ as the sole source of salvation through faith in Him, as validated by His crucifixion and resurrection. 

•                Personal faith and conversion with regeneration by the Holy Spirit. 

•                Recognition of the inspired Word of God as the ultimate basis and authority for faith and Christian living. 

•                Commitment to biblical witness, evangelism and mission that brings others to faith in Christ. 

•                 

Evangelicals are largely Protestant, Independent or Anglican, but some are Catholic or Orthodox. It is one of the TransBloc movements in this book. 

This definition is very close but not identical to the definition introduced in David Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s as the Bebbington Quadrilateral, which offered crucicentrism, conversionism, biblicism and activism as the four qualities of evangelicalism. 

Evangelicals are enumerated in Operation World as: 

•                All affiliated Christians (church members, their children, other participants of the faith community) of denominations that are definitively evangelical in theology as explained above. 

•                The proportion of the affiliated Christians in other denominations (that are not wholly evangelical in theology) who would hold evangelical views, whether Western in origin or otherwise.

This is a theological and not an experiential definition. It does not mean that all evangelicals as defined above are actually born-again. In many nations, only 10-40% of evangelicals so defined may have had a valid conversion and regularly attend church services. However, it does show how many people align themselves with churches where the gospel is being proclaimed as such. 

In the above mention was made of the “Bebbington Quadrilateral.”  In that a number of researchers use this definition it is important to know its content.  Here are the four points with some brief definitions. 

1.     Biblicism: a particular regard for the Bible (e.g., all spiritual truth is to be found in its pages.

2.     Crucicentrism [cross-centered]: a focus on the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

3.     Conversionism: the belief that human beings need to be converted.

4.     Activism: the belief that the gospel needs to be expressed in effort.

There are, of course, others definitions of “evangelical.”  For example, Francis Schaeffer wrote that to be evangelical was to be:

Bible-believing without shutting one’s self off from the full spectrum of life, and in trying to bring Christianity into effective contact with the current needs of society, government and culture.  It had a connotation of leading people to Christ as Savior, but then trying to be salt and light in the culture.

John Dickerson, in his book The Great Evangelical Recession, comments on Schaeffer’s description (which is primarily given for American evangelicals):

Schaeffer emphasizes the “full-spectrum” of living in the culture.  Here, Schaeffer points out the practical distinctive of American evangelicals.  We have a heritage of intentionally interacting with the culture in a positive way, rather than isolating and reacting or submitting and capitulating to it.  This “engaged orthodoxy” stands noticeably apart from the spiritual bunker mentality that defined American fundamentalism.  It also stands apart from the spongy plurality that defines theologically liberal Protestants.

Defining and describing “evangelical” can be difficult but hopefully the above helps us better understand some of the defining characteristics of what it is to be “evangelical.”  Ultimately, at the theological level, evangelicals are concerned about the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ!

* Quotations from Dickerson, McGrath, and Schaeffer all come from John S. Dickerson The Great Evangelical Recession (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2013)--Appendix C "Defining 'Evangelical'" pages 229-232.

**Also of interest may be J. P. Moreland's brief essay Defining "Evangelical" in Public Discourse.

Beware of Separating Jesus from the Old Testament

* A devotional for our church bulletin.

Last week we looked at the very first words of 1 Peter 1.1: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ…”  We saw how this speaks to the fact that Peter’s words are not merely one more religious opinion in the church.  Rather, Peter is an authoritative spokesman for Christ Jesus.  This challenges those who wish to posit some sort of division between Christ and his apostles. 

Our passage today (1 Peter 1.10-12) challenges another false notion—the alleged separation between Jesus and the Old Testament.  There are some who make a sharp division between the teaching of Jesus and the perceived “harshness” of the Old Testament.  Peter speaks of how the same Spirit of Christ was operative in the Old Testament prophets and in the apostolic preachers.  The words of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan from their book Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God are also helpful in answering the charge of radical dichotomy between Jesus and the Old Testament:

We must be careful not to appeal to Jesus’s authority selectively.  In Old Testament prophetic fashion, Jesus regularly engages in denouncements and threats of judgments—both temporal and final.  He routinely pronounces temporal judgment on Jerusalem; this judgment would come by Rome in AD 70.  He also assumes Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon had been divinely and violently judged, which serves as a springboard for condemning his unbelieving contemporaries in Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum (Matt. 11:21-24; cf. 10:15).  Notice these warnings of judgment immediately precede Jesus’s own self-description as gentle and humble in heart (11:28-30)!  Jesus likewise takes for granted divine and violent judgment in Noah’s day (Matt. 24:37-39).  And in a symbolic act, an enraged Jesus makes a whip to drive out moneychangers from the temple and prevents people from even entering the temple (John 2:15; cf. Mark 11:15-17).  Does this not have a touch of the kind of “violence” Seibert and Enns would consider un-Christlike?  What of Jesus’s indictment of stumbling blocks who should have a millstone tied around their neck to be drowned (Matt. 18:6)?  He threatens the “wretched” vine-growers (Israel’s leaders) with temporal judgment (Matt. 21:41; Mark 12:9).  Jesus likewise declares he will “make war” on the Nicolaitans “with the sword of My mouth,” and he will throw the false prophetess “Jezebel” onto a “bed of sickness” and bring “pestilence” upon her followers (Rev. 2:16, 20-23 NASB).  Jesus clearly believes in the appropriateness of temporal divine punishment and the Mosaic death penalty (Matt. 15:4).  (p. 42)

Jesus affirmed the Old Testament Scriptures (Matthew 5.17) and acted in accordance with the character of his heavenly Father revealed in those Scriptures.  Beware of those who would create an imaginary division between the Old Testament and the teaching of Christ.

* Also see the Question and Answer from William Craig Jesus and the God of the Old Testament.

Jeremiah on Listening to the Word of the Lord

Toward the end of Jeremiah (chapters 41-44) after the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem, the Babylonians had set in place a governor over the region—Gedaliah.  Well, there were some forces that didn’t like this foreign appointed governor so they killed Gedaliah.  The folks that did this were soon brought to judgment by the people left in Jerusalem but they then faced a difficult future.  Once the Babylonians heard that Gedaliah had been murdered they could come back and even do more destruction on them.  So they thought of leaving and traveling to Egypt for protection.  The people approach Jeremiah and ask him to seek the Lord’s will.  Jeremiah tells them he will ask the Lord but they must listen to it.  The people respond:

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the Lord your God will send to you to us.  Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”  --Jeremiah 42.5-6

Doesn’t that sound great—“whatever God says, even if we don’t like it, we will obey!”  Jeremiah goes and asks God what to do and he says not to go to Egypt but to stay in Jerusalem.  He promises that it will be okay for them from the Babylonians.  And how do the people respond?  Do they humbly listen and submit?  Not hardly.  Here is there reply:

“You are telling a lie!  The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.”  --Jeremiah 43.2-3

So the people go down to Egypt in defiance of the Lord’s word through Jeremiah.  They even force Jeremiah to go with them.  In Egypt the Lord continues to warn his people through his prophet Jeremiah.  He rebukes their idolatry for the people were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven.  Will the people now listen to the Lord?  Here is how they respond to Jeremiah’s message:

“As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you!  But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven…”   --Jeremiah 44.16-17

This is an amazing display of rebellion.  This was God’s people who supposed to “live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8.3) but now they are arrogantly stating that they will “carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths.” 

Before we are too hard on these people we should examine our own hearts and lives.  Do we do the same thing as they did?  Do we say, “I just want to hear what God wants.”  And then when we are shown the word of God and it challenges our desires do we run away in defiance?  The choice before us is this: Will we live by the word of God or will we live by our words?  These things were written for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10.11).  May we heed the message and listen to the word of God.  He knows best.

Jeremiah 23: False Prophets and the Word of God

* A recent devotional I wrote for our church's bulletin.

 

The prophet Jeremiah was given the difficult task of speaking God’s word of judgment in a challenging time.  God had revealed to Judah through Jeremiah that judgment was coming from Babylon.  There were other voices from those seen to be “prophets” that continually contradicted Jeremiah’s message.  These false prophets spoke a message of peace and comfort—“everything will be alright; no need to worry about judgment.”  The living God gives his perspective on these false prophets in Jeremiah 23.  Here a few selections:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.  They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.  (v. 16)

²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, “I had a dream, I had a dream!”  ²⁶How long?  Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, ²⁷who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?

“Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.  (v. 32)

These false prophets are characterized by speaking of that which is self-generated—their dreams and their own imagination.  They are not listening to the Word of the living God but merely parroting what the culture around them wants to hear.  This is no small thing they have done.  By refusing to listen to God and declare his Word they lead the people of God into error and sin.  The people of Judah during this time needed a strong message of repentance; they needed to turn from false gods and turn to the living God in obedience.  The false prophets actually harmed God’s people.  God’s indictment is upon them:

²¹I did not send these prophets, but they ran.  I did not speak to them, but they prophesied.  ²²But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

The lessons for God’s people and God’s ministers are plain.  We need to long for and listen to the Word of God.  There will always be other voices—other “Christian” voices—that are simply echoing the rebellion of a fallen culture.  These voices are not listening to or speaking the Word of God.  And such false voices do not challenge the idols of our time and culture.  We need to be a people committed to the Word of God.  We need the word that comes from outside of ourselves—outside of our imaginations and dreams.  We need a word spoken from God. 

For us in the New Covenant we find this sure word in the Scriptures.  The Bible is our authoritative guide to the word of God.  If we would know the mind of God and the will of God we must pay attention to the Word of God—the Scriptures.  Jeremiah speaks to the power of God’s Word with this language:

“Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?  (23.29)

Let us ever love, study, and obey this strong Word of God.  Let its message challenge you, rebuke you, comfort you, and guide you.  If we are going to stand strong for God in this challenging time we will need to live by this strong Word of God.

Jonah and the Gospel

* From a small devotional I did for our church as I finished up a series of sermons on Jonah.

As we come to the end of our series on Jonah we should feel something of its challenge for each of us individually and our church.  Pastor and commentator Lloyd Ogilvie connects the message of Jonah to our vision for the gospel with these words:

The book of Jonah is no less challenging to the contemporary church.  Often we desire to stay in the holy huddle when the next play calls for energetic evangelism and costly mission.  Either our congregations are in mission or they are still a mission field.

The little book of Jonah packs a big punch into our exclusivism and judgmentalism about the pagan world.  Evangelism and mission are not an aspect of a well-rounded congregational program; they are the reason for all we do in worship, education, and fellowship.

Churches, like individuals, can run away from God.  It happens when traditions and customs become more important than our calling.  We can get introverted into our own programs, buildings, and budgets.  In every town or city there are hundreds, thousands, millions who do not know Christ.  Our members must be called and equipped to be winsome, winning evangelists.  And we dare not run away from the call of the city—your city or mine—that is as great to God as Nineveh of old.  It is good to ask ourselves, then church officers, and then those vision shapers who determine how our congregations respond to obeying the Lord, “Where are we as a congregation?  Back at Gath-hepher still wrestling with the call of God?  In the hull of the ship asleep?  In the depths trying to placate God so we can keep our agenda intact?  Or, have we reached our Tarshish and think we’re in Nineveh?”  There’s nothing worse for a congregation than to have the mind-set of Tarshish in Nineveh.  The question is: “Do we love the people of Nineveh?”

Powerful words.  They show us how the message of Jonah reinforces our call to be a gospel people.

We exist to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ

as we manifest his truth and character

in the church and in the world.

___________________

The Gospel: Love it! Live it! Share it! Defend it!

 

Jesus in Psalm 91

Last week I looked at Psalm 91 and the Devil’s misuse of verses 11-12 in his temptation of Jesus.  We saw how the context of the entire psalm moves us to trust God—not put him to the test. 

It is also helpful to consider how Psalm 91.13-16 is fulfilled by Jesus Christ.  These verses are fulfilled not in temporal deliverance from death but by the resurrection from the dead and the exaltation to the Father’s right hand.  Consider the following (perhaps use these passages as part of your devotional reading this week):

¹³You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

·      Consider the “lion” and “serpent” imagery as used in the New Testament for the Devil: 2 Corinthians 11.3; 1 Peter 5.8

·      Christ “tramples” them at the cross: John 12.31; Colossians 2.15; Hebrews 2.14-15

¹⁴Because he has loved me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known my name.

·      Christ is delivered from death by the resurrection: Acts 2.31-32

·      The Father sets Christ “securely on high” in the ascension: Acts 2.33-36

¹⁵He will call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

·      Hebrews 5.7 speaks of how Jesus cried out with tears “to the One able to save him from death and he was heard…”

·      The Father saved his Son not from death but through death—through the resurrection from the dead.

¹⁶With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation.

·      Hebrews 7.24 says, “but Jesus, on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently.”

The Psalms do speak of Jesus Christ and his unique person and ministry transform how we read the Psalms. 

Beware the Devil's Devotional!

Many of us are familiar with daily devotional books which provide a meditation on a verse or short passage of Scripture.  Many of these devotional books are good and helpful. However there can be a danger that needs to be considered.  In taking a single verse or a few verses we need to check and make sure the devotional writer is not taking the passage of Scripture out of context.  It’s very easy to do this.  The larger context of a verse or short passage is important for the larger message God wants to convey.  This danger of taking a single verse out of context is vividly portrayed in the Devil’s temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter four.  Here is the second listed temptation from Matthew 4.6:

If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you;” and “on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

The Devil is quoting from Psalm 91.11-12.  He gets the words right but he misses the meaning.  He is attempting to get Jesus to test his Father.  But the entire Psalm is about trusting God—not testing him!  Consider a few verses from Psalm 91 that provide the context:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!” (vv. 1-2)

For you have made the Lord my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. (v. 9)

These verses provide the crucial contextual clues that show that God himself is to be trusted.  He is the refuge and fortress that can be trusted.  The Most High is the God of authority and refuge.  Psalm 91 is a song of confident trust in the Most High God—it is no a challenge to do foolish and sinful actions in order to test God!

Jesus saw through the temptation of the Devil and his misuse of Scripture.  He knew the whole point of Scripture was to promote trust and faith in God—not challenge or testing.  This is why is simply responds with a Scripture passage of his own:

            You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. (Deuteronomy 6.16)

Although it is simply one verse, Jesus has correctly understood it and applied it to his situation.  We need to do the same in our Bible reading.  Beware the Devil’s devotional readings.  Always and ever your reading should lead to trust and faith in God.

Jonah: A Few Introductory Thoughts

* I recently began a sermon series though the book of Jonah.  In our church bulletin I posted the following as an introduction.

 

Today we begin a sermon series through the book of Jonah.  Why is it profitable to study this small book which details events from over 2,800 years ago?  Here are a few reasons why looking at Jonah is important and what I hope we will see over the next six weeks.

First, the book of Jonah is Scripture and is therefore “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3.16-17)  

Second, Jesus taught his disciples that the entirety of the Old Testament testified about him.  Luke 24.27 states: “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.”  If we rightly read and understand Jonah we will see something of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Third, the story of Jonah can be deceptively familiar.  We think we know the story because we learned it as children.  In fact, we can almost begin to think of it as a “childish” story if we are not careful.  The book of Jonah is full of rich and subtle doctrine.  The book ends with a challenge to the reader.  I’m hopeful of unpacking some of the rich teaching and texture of the book for us.

Fourth, the book of Jonah has been attacked at a number of points.  Today’s sermon will look at some of these challenges and defend the historicity of the account.  Our God acts in history and reveals himself in concrete, historical revelation.  By examining some of these details our faith and confidence in God’s word should be strengthened.

Fifth, I want us to capture the really big message of Jonah—and it’s not about the fish!  For too long we have come to exclusively link Jonah with the fish.  In reality the fish is mentioned only three times in an incidental manner.  The really big character in the book of Jonah is God himself!  When we properly understand the book of Jonah we will see the God of sovereign compassion.  This vision of God will not allow us to remain as we are.  Jonah calls us to marvel at his sovereignty and praise him for his grace.  It also challenges us to align ourselves—our desires, ministries, and dreams—with God’s sovereign and compassionate purposes.

Jonah is a small book about a great God!  May God show us his glory and the glory of his Son, Jesus Christ through this book.