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Published on Leave a comment on “Because we’re supposed to”

I just finished a preaching group where a fine preacher gave a fine talk on Judges 14.  At the end he included a sentence about 'another Saviour who came to deliver His people eternally'.  That sort of thing.   He didn't make anything of the point and he didn't mention the name 'Jesus', but he included the sentence.

During the feedback session I asked him in as non-leading a way as possible, "Why did you include that sentence about Jesus?" 

Quick as a flash another student answered "Because we're supposed to." 

Let me ask:

Do we preach Christ from the OT "because we're supposed to" or because the Hebrew Scriptures are already and inherently a witness to Christ? 

Is the 'Jesus bit' a token effort to fulfil some preaching requirement?  Or is Jesus actually witnessed in and through the passage? 

Is Jesus as incidental to the proclamation of this passage as those terrible jokes that are also tacked on?

Is it the preacher's job to 'bridge to Christ'?  Or has God's word already done a good job of that?

Is Jesus forced into our sermons?  Or is He present as the Ground, Grammar and Goal of the whole Scripture?

Congregations can really tell the difference between the former and the latter.

Churches where the former is the common practice often produce Christians who know that Jesus is very important.  But they're not so sure why. 

Preachers that follow this model can start to think that Jesus is a homiletical necessity, but not so much a spiritual one.  So when they speak of God's sovereignty, the importance of holiness, the necessity of prayer, they give powerful illustrations and pointed applications.  For these 'main points' of their sermon it's aged wine and the best of meats.  But then at the end they give their people Jesus as though He's cod liver oil.  Out of the blue, unappetising, supposedly good for you but we're not quite sure why.

Know what I mean?

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Published on Leave a comment on Are you a bible nut??

Take the Christ the Truth patented quiz:

What is your response to the following Scriptures?

 

Scripture 1: Josh 10:12-15 - the sun stays up for a whole extra day

A) What a rich and enigmatic text! The main thing we glean is that the LORD can be trusted in difficult circumstances.

B) [Muffled] I suppose something quite strange happened here.  Perhaps it was to do with perceptions (after all we'd have to completely rewrite the astronomy books on this one), but even if something miraculous happened here, the main thing we glean is that the LORD can be trusted in difficult circumstances.

C)  Wahey - the sun stopped in the middle of the sky!

 

Scripture 2: 2 Kings 6:17 -  Elisha prays that his servant might see the angels all around

A) What a rich and enigmatic text!  The main thing we glean is that the LORD can be trusted in difficult circumstances.

B) [Muffled] I suppose there were angels in that place at that extraordinary time.

C) Wahey - angels are everywhere!

 

Scripture 3: Mark 15:33 - Darkness on Good Friday

A) What a rich and enigmatic text!  The main thing we glean is that something rich and enigmatic was taking place.

B) [Muffled] I suppose something was obstructing the sun and causing a localised darkness.

C) The sun stopped shining!

 

Scripture 4: Romans 8:19-22 - The creation waits and is groaning

A) What a rich and enigmatic text!  The main thing we learn is how the LORD can be trusted in difficult circumstances.

B) Creation is not how it was supposed to be.

C) Creation waits and is groaning.

 

Scripture 5: 1 Cor 11:3-16 - Head coverings etc

A) What a rich and enigmatic text!  The main thing we learn is how we should skip this chapter and head straight for 1 Cor 13.

B) [Muffled] Gender differences should be expressed in culturally appropriate ways.

C) Men, uncover those heads.  Women, cover them up.  (With hair I reckon - though some will think I should lose points for that!)

 

Scripture 6: 2 Cor 13:12 - Greet one another with a holy kiss.

A) What a fascinating window onto 1st century church practice!

B) Greet one another in an affectionate, culturally appropriate way.

C) Get kissing!

 

A = 1 point

B = 2 points

C = 3 points

 

Add up your score.

 

6-10 - bit woolly for these parts.

11-15 - could be nuttier

16-18 - you are a bible nut.  Welcome to Christ the Truth.

 

What did you score?

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Published on Leave a comment on The Bible and God

Ok, so the bible is not God.  But then, what is the relationship between God and the written word?

I'll devote quite a big proportion of next week to that question as I blog about preaching.  But for now let me explore an analogy with the sacraments.  Marc can shoot me down - he's doing a lot of work on this subject.  But let me have a go anyway.

Here's my thought - we tend to veer between two mistakes: a Catholic and a Zwinglian view of the bible.

The Catholic view is to see my bible reading working ex opere operato (by doing it, it's done).  I advance the book mark and it is has worked.  The words go in (sort of), my reading plan gets ticked off - job done.

My response?  Disengaged duty.

The Zwinglian view is to see my bible reading as memorialist.  Christ is essentially absent from these words, but they're a jolly good reminder of Him.  And if I employ my imagination and proper meditative techniques, if I think these words into moral, pastoral and theological categories then my thoughts will carry me to Christ. 

My response?  Pietistic duty.

On the first understanding, I don't need to do anything but go through the motions.  The second understanding is a reaction to the first in which I take the spiritual task into my own hands. 

But what if Christ is really and already present through the words of Scripture.  The words aren't Christ Himself.  But neither are they separate such that I must bridge the gap.  Instead, the words are carrying me to Christ who they constantly proclaim (John 5:39).

It's not just reading comprehension.  But neither is it my job to make an otherwise dead letter living and active.  Instead the bible is already a living and lively word ever proceeding from the mouth of God and ever offering to me the Bread of life. 

The bible works on me.  Not apart from faith.  But not by my works either. It is His work - His spiritual work - that is ever offered to me.

Here's what I say to people from the Book of Common  Prayer as I give them communion:

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for you preserve your body and soul to everlasting life.  Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on Him in your heart by faith, with thanksgiving.

And you say - typical Anglicans, straddling all the positions!  Well - Jesus does say 'This is my body.'  And He does say 'Do this in remembrance of me.'  It's just that this is not the centre of communion.  Feeding on Him in our hearts by faith as we feed on the bread between our teeth - this is. 

So as we read our bibles we acknowledge, this IS the word of God.  And we acknowledge that this reading will cause us many subsequent thoughts that bring us to Jesus in manifold ways.  But essentially as we read the Scriptures we are being fed spiritually there and then with the Bread of life.  

My response?  Believing expectancy. 

 

Does that work as an analogy?

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Published on Leave a comment on Read the Bible in 90 days

It works out at 12 pages a day. About 16 chapters.  That's do-able right?

Week 1: Genesis 1:1 - Exodus 40:38 :

Week 2: Leviticus 1:1 - Deuteronomy 22:30 :

Week 3: Deuteronomy 23:1 - 1 Samuel 28:25 :

Week 4: 1 Samuel 29:1 - 2 Kings 25:30 :

Week 5: 1 Chronicles 1:1 - Nehemiah 13:31 :

Week 6: Esther 1:1 - Psalm 89:52 :

Week 7: Psalm 90:1 - Isaiah 13:22 :

Week 8: Isaiah 14:1 - Jeremiah 33:26 :

Week 9: Jeremiah 34:1 - Daniel 8:27 :

Week 10: Daniel 9:1 - Matthew 26:75 :

Week 11: Matthew 27:1 - Acts 6:15 :

Week 12: Acts 7:1 - Colossians 4:18 :

Week 13: 1 Thess. 1:1 - Revelation 22:21 :

Go here to subscribe to the RSS feed.  Day one begins here.

Biblegateway proposes you do it over the summer: 1 June - 29 August.  But me and a mate are starting tomorrow.  If anyone wants to join us, let me know.

It might mean my blogging volume takes a noticeable dip!!

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Published on Leave a comment on Why you don’t read your bible

Dan Hames tells us why here. 

He covers:

'You don't have time',

'You think the bible's all about you,' and

'You think your bible reading is for God's benefit.'

 

In this context the Bible is given to us as a gift to feast on, rather than a project to complete before judgment day.  We will find we go to it to savour and enjoy, and when we miss a day we might feel hunger pangs, but we could never feel guilt, fear, or condemnation.  In the same way that skipping breakfast is more of a missed opportunity than a morally dubious choice; not going to the scriptures for nourishment is not a matter of calling down the anger of God, but of omitting to take advantage of his good gifts to his children.

Nice.

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Published on Leave a comment on Why you don't read your bible

Dan Hames tells us why here. 

He covers:

'You don't have time',

'You think the bible's all about you,' and

'You think your bible reading is for God's benefit.'

 

In this context the Bible is given to us as a gift to feast on, rather than a project to complete before judgment day.  We will find we go to it to savour and enjoy, and when we miss a day we might feel hunger pangs, but we could never feel guilt, fear, or condemnation.  In the same way that skipping breakfast is more of a missed opportunity than a morally dubious choice; not going to the scriptures for nourishment is not a matter of calling down the anger of God, but of omitting to take advantage of his good gifts to his children.

Nice.

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Published on Leave a comment on Application – the evangelical cure-all

habits

 

Like coathangers, we own a hundred bibles but have no idea how they came to be ours.  One of them is called a "Life Application Bible." 

As far as I can tell, it exists in order to footnote every biblical indicative so that a moral imperative may be added.  This is, we are assured, the cure to our spiritual malaise.  Just listen to this endorsement on the back cover:

Evangelical Christianity is suffering from an acute case of spiritual malnutrition.  The symptom is well known - defection in personal standards of living.  The cure - Vitamin A - application of God's Word.

This remedy is both refreshing and realistic, calculated to change the will.  Not merely satisfying curiosity or making us smarter sinners, the Scriptures were given to make us more like Jesus Christ.

Wha?? 

What's the understanding of the bible here?  The Spirit's testimony to the Son?  Christ's love-letter to His bride?  The deposit of faith given to the church for the sake of proclaiming Christ to the world?  No.  At base the bible is, apparently, given for individual piety.

What kind of anthropology is this?  Change the will and you'll correct the 'defection in standards of living.'  ! 

What kind of salvation is offered?  Apparently we are not to become merely 'smarter sinners' - well what then?  Do we become subtler sinners?  more self-righteous sinners?  self-satisfied sinners?  There's one option that is assuredly closed to us - that of ceasing to be sinners!  So why not a smarter sinner?

This approach to Scripture and to Christian faith is not good.  And yet, doesn't this kind of thinking throb away beneath much of what passes for evangelicalism?  Isn't the majority of 'evangelical' preaching informed by just such beliefs?  I'd say our spiritual malnutrition is not because of a lack of this kind of application.  We're spiritually anaemic precisely because we have turned the Scriptures into moralistic or therapeutic self-help.  No wonder other Christians deride us as simplistic legalists.

For a thought on what good application is, go here.

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Published on Leave a comment on How not to read the bible

A semi-imagined conversation

-- Right.  Bible reading.  Here we go - Speak Lord, your servant is listening.  Ok, Matthew 11:28.  Jesus said "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."  Ok, good verse.  Thank You Lord.  But now let me think.  What is this verse really saying to me...?  Hmm, well of course "rest" is very theologically loaded.  Right from the seventh day of creation we see eschatological perfection modelled in Sabbath....

-- Glen!

-- Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

-- Yes you've already said that.  And I've already spoken...

-- ... Oh indeed you have Lord and now I'm allowing your word to inform and shape my theological understanding that I might be transformed by the renewing... Well you know how the verse goes.  Anyway I find it fascinating that you say v28 right after v27 when you declare the trinitarian, christo-centric dynamic of all revel...

-- Glen! 

-- Speak Lord, your servant is listening

-- Are you?

-- Well trying to.  That's why I'm thinking hard about how the verse fits in with the context and with the rest of the biblical witness.  I'm allowing my whole theology to be shaped by these concepts...

-- These concepts?  Glen, have you actually come to me for rest today?

-- Well.  My plan is to get a properly nuanced theology of rest in place.  And once I have this understanding I imagine the experience of rest will sort of, I don't know, umm....

-- Glen?

-- Speak Lord your servant is listening

-- Maybe later...

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