February 24, 2016

Wednesday Writings - Good and Very Good

In my time formerly as a Discipleship Pastor and currently as the Discipleship Coordinator of my church I have done a lot of reflecting and teaching on various parts of the Scripture.  During those times I have sought not simply to bridge the world of the academy to the church, but to take that one step further and gleam those thoughts into devotional material that would go beyond the classroom.  On Wednesdays I will be posting excerpts and drafts from things I have already written, with minor tweaks.  Hope you enjoy!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
(Gen 1:1, 31)

There are many stories out there in competition for our interest, to become a part of our worldview, the foundational set of beliefs we hold about reality which help us make sense of how we live, move and have our being.  The creation story in Genesis is one such story in this competition for centuries.  It forces us to ask the questions: who really made the universe, how did it come into being, how did humans get here, and is there any significance to this?  Is the world some meaningless void that appeared by chance and now we are simply moving around trying to give significance to an existence that is absurd and without purpose, or is there some reason, order, and intellect to this universe, a story perhaps to make sense of it all?  Is there some master plan that we are a part of, like a play where the first few acts have been laid out for us but we are left to improvise the rest?  If so, how might we know whether some scenes are better than others?  The answers your give to these questions are the first steps to the beginning of your journey.
My suggestion is that we begin where the Bible begins that, “in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth” and He called them good.  It is the belief that God has set all things in order and put them in their proper place: fish in the water, cattle on the land and stars in the heavens.  Each thing is where it ought to be.   It is the belief that he created humanity in his image and likeness to watch over or rule his creation, to reflect who he is, and when he was finished he called all of it very good.   Once we accept this twin belief, that God is the orderer and creator of the universe then we can begin to understand the foundation of Jesus' worldview.

Now, if God has created the universe and set it in order, giving each thing he created its own place, and humanity a task, we must assume then that we have a purpose and there is a task for us, there is a story then that we can look at to make sense of it all.  Essentially, we are not here by chance.  However, more than that, we also know that we are created in the image and likeness of God, meaning that in order to understand ourselves we must understand the God in who's image and likeness we are made.  Therefore, the drama of scripture, the story of God and his creation, has something to teach us not only about us but about God as well.  We have the ability not only to know good, what it is and why God called creation it, but we can known something about the very one who called creation good in the first place.

Moving Forward 

1.  How does your belief in God affect your outlook on the world around you?  Does it change the way you think, act, and live?  
2.  If God is the creator and orderer of the universe, what has he created you for and where has he ordered you to be?

February 20, 2016

Revelations from Revelation - Look Up!

Life is full of tragedy and moments that don't seem to make sense. This past week I heard the news about the tragic funeral of a young man, near my age, who was killed in an accident.  That weekend he was planning to propose to his girlfriend.  In an instant the celebratory sound of wedding bells would be replaced by ominous toll of the funeral bell.  In an instant tragedy redirected the gaze of his loved ones from the future towards the present.  Tragedy, trial, and tribulation have a way of redirecting our gaze.  It is during these moments of fear and anxiety that Jesus directs his church to turn their eyes in a different direction.

As the early church in the late first century was beginning to face persecution for their faith, which John describes as tribulation (1:9) Jesus attempts to reorient their focus.  He begins with an invocation of blessing whose source is none other than the Triune God in all their heavenly glory.  He begins with YHWH (who is and who was and who is to come), the seven Spirits, and from Jesus Christ.  Here They are equally joined together as the fount of the river called "grace and peace."

Yet, something is different because John decides to expand one figure above the rest, namely Jesus.  In verses 5-6 we are told he is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.  During a time when the early Christians in Asia Minor were threatened to give up their faith, bend to the whim of the culture, or perhaps be threatened with death by the social and political powers, Jesus comes to them and declares that it is he who is in charge and not the so called rulers.  Therefore, like Him, they would need to remain strong.  They would need to cling to their witness, but how?  In the face of so much potential fear and pain, what encouragement could they have?

John continues in verses 12-18, where Jesus is lifted up in all His magisterial glory, described as YHWH.  In fact, as John turns to look on him, the very sight of him is so overwhelming that John fell at His feet as if he had died.  Then in full resurrection power, He raises John up and declares that He is the one over all things, holding the power over Death and Hades itself.  In one swift descriptive move John disarms the only thing that the powers (namely Rome) who held them in bondage could threaten them with, death.  As the one who overcame death, and conquered the grave [Hades], Jesus encourages his followers to do something unnatural.  Instead of looking around at the circumstances, Jesus invites them to change the direction of their gaze upward, above all the threats, toward Jesus to see Him as the victorious one.

Life can be downright difficult at times, and it is so easy to look at and name all the things that are going on around us.  But in the midst of adversity and tribulation the book of Revelation encourages us to do one thing first, look up. 

February 19, 2016

What's the Problem with Grace?

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In his book Paul and the Gift, professor John Barclay does something that needed to be done a long time ago, set the idea of a gift, or GRACE, within its social-historical setting.  Why is this important, because all of us tend to use the word within our own modern contemporary thought-world.  However, we know that each culture has customs that are different from the others, and we need explanations of those customs in their cultural situatedness in order to grasp their intended meaning.   Otherwise we aren't communicating.

Let me give you a real world example of this from American to European culture (at least some of the Europeans that I have encountered).  When it is someone's birthday in America and you are going out to dinner with them, the friends usually chip in and pay for the person who's birthday it is.  However, some of my European friends tell me that on their birthday they have to pay the entire check, for everyone.  The same invitation in two different contemporary cultures takes on a different meaning based on cultural expectation.  

So when Paul uses the word gift [grace], his original hearers understood it to mean something which was probably different than how we understand it today.  Therefore, Professor Barclay has done us all a service with his book,  by helping us go back into their world to understand the meaning of gift.  However, this book was written for the specialist in mind, and would put most people to sleep.  Therefore, I heartily encourage you to take the time to listen to this podcast where he talks about his book and some of the issues surrounding it.  I know it helped me.

February 15, 2016

Revelations from Revelation - Part 1

Currently I am teaching a Sunday morning Bible Study at my church through the book of Revelation.  While many cannot be there for all the exegetical gymnastics I am performing at least everyone can certainly benefit from some of the ideas and thoughts I am tumbling through.  In this series I will be relaying some of those thoughts and ideas that I have skimmed off the top. I hope they enrich your reading of the Bible.

John begins his letter to the churches in Asia Minor with a declaration about the source of his information, particularly that it is not from himself, but is a "Revelation of [from] Jesus Christ." Whatever involvement John has in relaying this revelation (passively or creatively) John's claim is that he is not the source of this river.  Rather, John claims that he is just in the flow of things because he says that he was in the Spirit (1:10).  It is from that posture that he received something from Jesus, which was given to Him by God, and it was signified (that is communicated through the use of symbols) to John by an angel.

Revelation then, invites its audience into a world to see things from God's perspectives, or more precisely from John's vision of God's perspective.  This invitation is not to be shunned, as many have done (myself included), but welcomed because a double blessing is proclaimed on both, the reader to the congregations, and those congregations who hear it.  These prophetic words were intended to speak powerfully to their audience, as their meaning had direct significance to their current situation for John declares "that the time is near."

So where does that leave us?  Though the impact of these words were directly for their 1st century audience, that does not mean that they cannot, and will not find significance for us today.  In fact, I believe that much of what John says will be important for us to hear.  Yet, something is required of us first.  Like John, we need to be open to the journey, taking the posture of humility by being in the Spirit in order to hear a word from God. This means being people of prayer, the word and worship.

So my challenge to everyone who begins the journey of this book (or any book in the Bible for that matter) is to pray that the you will have the posture required "to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

Looking forward to our next steps together.