Domesticating Paul

The Apostle Paul writes these provocative words in his letter to the Philippians (3:7–11):

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

But modern-day Christians have taken all the sting out of them. We read them something more like this:

I have given up my old ways so that I can trade them in for God's declaration that I am righteous because of what Jesus Christ did for me. The most important thing to me is knowing that salvation is by faith in Christ and not by my trying to be good. I want to keep this straight in my mind and never forget that it is Jesus' death for me that makes it possible for me to get to heaven.

Not only is this not what Paul is saying, but it is nearly the opposite of what he is saying.


He means something more like this:

All those things that I used to count on to make me feel significant and accepted by God I now realize were worst than useless. In fact, all the things that seemed important I now consider sh*t, because my only hope is in my participation in the life that can only be found in Jesus Christ. The most important desire I have is intimacy with Christ Jesus who is my Lord. I yearn to experience the power of his resurrection at work in my life as I follow in the way of the cross. And while I enjoy life now that has an eternal depth, my ultimate hope is in the final resurrection when God's perfect kingdom will be realized.

Of course, that is just my clumsy attempt to paraphrase what Paul wrote in carefully crafted Greek that borders on poetry.


C. S. Lewis did a much better job in this poem:

As the Ruin Falls

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:

I talk of love —a scholar's parrot may talk Greek—

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.

I see the chasm. And everything you are was making

My heart into a bridge by which I might get back

From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains

You give me are more precious than all other gains.

That's what I was trying to say.


Pastor Rod
"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Stating the Obvious[ly Wrong]

In the command known as the Great Commission, Jesus said, "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Of course, we all know exactly what Jesus meant:

• "Making disciples" means to seek the conversion of individuals.
  
• The goal is to increase the number of Christians.
  
• In order to be baptized, these individuals must repent, which means they must turn away from their sins.
  
• The responsibility of the Church (and individual believers) is to bring unbelievers to a point of decision after presenting them with basic information about the content of the gospel.
  
• After an individual is converted, then he or she learns the commands of Jesus and is encouraged to model his morality.
  
• While both of these steps are important, the most important is conversion because it allows people to get into heaven.
  
• A significant part of this Commission requires us to go (or send others) to other countries.
  
• "All nations" refers to the countries of the world.
  

The problem is that each of these "obvious" facts is wrong.

But our understanding of this Commission has become ingrained in our church culture, and no one asks anymore what it means. Furthermore, many of these assumptions actually get in the way of the Church fulfilling its true mission.

If one regards it as the primary purpose of mission to increase the number of Christians and treats such increase as the criterion of success, without posing all the time the more radical questions which the gospel puts to the common assumptions of our culture, if the dominical call to "repent" is translated as "turn away from your sins" and there is no understanding of that radical overturning of the world's ideas of sin and righteousness and judgment, then there can be rapid church growth; but the very success of the burgeoning congregations may actually incapacitate them for a radical encounter with the culture into which they fit so comfortably. If religion is an affair for the private life, it can flourish in a society governed by other assumptions, taking the characteristic form which we know so well—a series of voluntary societies made up of people who share the same religious tastes. In that form Christianity can flourish, but it cannot challenge the beliefs that control public life. It has been co-opted into the culture.

Lesslie Newbigin, Signs Amid the Rubble: The Purposes of God in Human History, p. 91.

Besides, the advancement of the kingdom is not the Church's mission. It is God's mission:

Mission, then, is not essentially a human activity undertaken by the church and its leaders out of obligation to the Great Commission, gratitude for what God has done for us, and the desperate plight of the world. It is God's own mission in which we are invited to participate.

Stephen Seamands, Ministry in the Image of God, p. 161

So what is the mission of the Church?

The Christian mission is thus to act out in the whole life of the whole world the confession that Jesus is Lord of all.

Leslie Newbigin, The Open Secret, p. 17

This requires deep knowledge of God and more than a passing familiarity with the culture in which a particular congregation finds itself. It is God's embassy in a particular community.

The business of the church is to tell and to embody a story, the story of God's mighty acts in creation and redemption and of God's promises concerning what will be in the end. The church affirms the truth of this story by celebrating it, interpreting it, and enacting it in the life of the contemporary world. It has no other way of affirming its truth. If it supposes that its truth can be authenticated by reference to some allegedly more reliable truth claim, such as those offered by the philosophy of religion, then it has implicitly denied the truth by which it lives.

Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence, p. 76

So what do you think? Do you still agree with some of the "obvious facts"? Are there other "obvious facts" that you'd like to debunk?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Mission of the Triune God

In an unpublished essay at www.Newbigin.net, Lesslie Newbigin writes:

We are not engaged in an enterprise of our own choosing or devising. We are invited to participate in an activity of God which is the central meaning of creation itself. We are invited to become, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, participants in the Son's loving obedience to the Father. All things have been created that they may be summed up in Christ the Son. All history is directed towards that end. All creation has this as its goal. The Spirit of God, who is also the Spirit of the Son, is given as the foretaste of that consummation, as the witness to it, and as the guide of the Church on the road towards it. The Church is not promised success; it is promised the peace of Christ in the midst of tribulation, and the witness of the Spirit given out of the Church's weakness and ignorance. For the future it has Christ's promise: it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And for the present it has His assurance: Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Each branch of the Church has its own idea of what that mission should be. But these ideas quickly become proprietary and "parochial." Furthermore, organizational survival replaces this mission in practice.

The power to accomplish this mission does not come from the wealth, power or influence of the Church. It comes from the Holy Spirit. And this power works through the "weakness and ignorance" of the Church.
Christ won his victory through apparent defeat. If we are serious about following in the way of the cross, we will trust in him rather than in our own success.

Pastor Rod
"Helping You Beecome The Person God Created You to Be"

Keller Has Doubts

Here are some videos of Tim Keller (HT: Justin Buzzard) talking about the subject of his new book, The Reason for God.

The first one is from Keller's talk at Google, yes Google.

The next two are from his presentation at Stanford:

[For some reason I cannot get Google videos to embed properly on Blogger (a Google product), so I'm posting the links instead.]

Presentation

Q & A

The fourth one is a Veritas event at UC Berkley.

What does the title mean? You'll have to watch the videos or read the book to find out.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Unhealthy Numbers

From the physician's point of view, the patient was reduced to a bunch of numbers. Moreover, the numbers were not organized by symptoms or diagnoses: they were organized by what tests were run and which laboratory within the hospital had processed the results. The patient's history — the record of past events and healthcare — was in a different location than current test results. Current results were in a different place than past results. Different hospitals might have different laboratories, so their results would be organized differently. But the attending and resident physicians and nurses were experts at piecing together a mental model of the state of the patient from all these numbers. Or so they said: evidence is difficult to come by.

Don Norman describes his experience observing hospitals in "A Fetish for Numbers: Hospital Care."

Of course, the reason for all these numbers is to improve patient care. Yet the result seems to be quite different:

There were so many medical devices, so many readouts and displays, that I could not even see the patient until someone walked over and pointed. Now this was an infant ward, so this particular patient was tiny, but even so this is a good illustration of modern medicine: From the point of view of the physicians, the patient is a set of test results and numerical readouts. The patient as a person tends to be forgotten (emphasis added).

In another hospital, Norman observed the following incident:

The attending physician would stand outside of the patient's door and listen to the review of the test results by all the residents. They would then discuss the results and make further recommendations. Then, as we all left to go to the next doorway and the next patient, the attending physician would knock on the open door, stick his head in and say, "How are you doing today, Mr. Forbes?" That was the extent of patient interaction.

With all this focus on numbers, the patient gets lost.

Scientists measure what they can measure and pronounce the rest to be unimportant. But the most important parts of life are qualitative. One of the physicians on my study team told us that it can take as long as 20 minutes to fill out all the required forms while she is in front of the patient, yet she is only allowed 15 minutes to attend to each patient.

It takes more time to fill out forms than she is allowed for each patient. There is no time left for real patient interaction.

Obviously, health care requires the collection and organization of numbers. But even so, more numbers do not equate to better care. If this is true in the hospital, how much more must it be true in the church?

Doug Jacoby addresses the number fetish in the church:

Have you ever noticed policemen on the highways out in force during the last couple of days of the month? Like state troopers and salesmen at month end, many, many of our ministers are more "urgent," "care more" about the lost, and strive harder to "make their goals" as the calendar month draws to an end. I believe that many of our leaders sense this, and not a few of the membership at large question motives when we become unusually intense in the final five or ten days of the month. Something about this is very wrong. It's not a Christlike behavior. We are not a corps of salesmen! We are ambassadors of Christ who believe in total disclosure of the truth, who espouse integrity, and who have Jesus as our model and our master.

But some will say, "Keeping statistics on church growth is a biblical principle. Just look at the records recorded in Acts." Take a look at the statements about numbers and "growth" in Luke's account of the early Church:

• In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) (Acts 1:15).
  
• Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day (Acts 2:41).
  
• And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).
  
• But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand (Acts 4:4).
  
• More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number (Acts 5:14).
  
• In those days when the number of disciples was increasing… (Acts 6:1).
  
• So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7).
  
• Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord (Acts 9:31).
  
• The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:21).
  
• [Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord (Acts 11:24).
  
• At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed (Acts 14:1).
  
• They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples (Acts 14:21).
  
• So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers (Acts 16:5).
  
• Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women (Acts 17:4).
  
• Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men (Acts 17:12).
  
• A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others (Acts 17:34).
  

At first, this list seems to provide overwhelming support for the "biblical principle" of statistical analysis.

But a closer look shows something very different.

• Only three verses mention a specific number (1:15, 2:41, 4:4).
  
• Two of those are obviously round numbers (2:41, 4:4).
  
• The other number seems also to be an estimate (1:15).
  
• These are all statements of fact. There is no indication that the Apostles used any sort of accounting system to measure their effectiveness.
  
• This was the very beginning of the Church. It is dangerous to assume that everything that occurred then should be made normative for all churches, everywhere, in all times.
  
• It is anachronistic to think that the Apostles had anything more than a general idea of how many people were in the church at any one time. (In other words, the early versions of Microsoft Excel did not run efficiently on clay tablets and parchment scrolls.)
  
• There is no indication that the Apostles spent time developing a strategic plan, much less that they used statistical analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of such plans.
  

I am not arguing that any use of numbers is wrong. But I am arguing that a focus on numbers can quickly lead to serious problems. A few of these might be

• Assuming that what we do is the determining factor that produces the "results"
  
• Reducing all aspects of ministry to factors that can be measured
  
• Focusing on activities that seem to affect the numbers that are being measured
  
• Neglecting activities that don't seem to directly improve the "stats"
  
• Reducing ministry exclusively to "doing"
  
• Denigrating any ministry that does not show "growth"
  

The parables that Jesus tells in Luke 15 are often cited as evidence that "numbers represent people." However, they could just as easily be understood as a total disregard of "numbers" in favor of individuals who "don't count." Too often, numbers don't represent people as much as they reduce living, breathing, people to cold, hard data.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Confessions of a Preacher

Lord, I come to you a miserable sinner, a sinner with a pulpit.

I repent for every time I preached something other than the good news of the gospel.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I made parishioners feel that they needed to try harder to be accepted by you.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I turned biblical narratives into morality lessons.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I reduced the gospel to a transaction.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I believed that everything depended upon my eloquence.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I focused on the people who didn't come instead of those who did.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I said, "This is what the Bible says you should do."

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I pretended to have it all together.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I turned a sermon into a seminary lecture.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I proclaimed a Christianity of tips and techniques.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I spent more time preparing the message than I did preparing the messenger.

Lord, have mercy.

I repent for every time I depended upon my cleverness instead of the scandal of the cross.

Lord, have mercy.

O Lord, have mercy upon me, a wretched offender. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to humankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, most merciful Father, for his sake that I may hereafter proclaim the true gospel with courage and confidence to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Missional Manifesto IV

What are the criteria for "success"?

If the focus is not on results, then how do we measure success? We certainly cannot measure it according to the standards of the business world.

The lure of success is seductive. Its siren song causes many people to uncritically ascribe so much authority to high-profile leaders, platform speakers and megachurch pastors…. In American measurement, Jesus' human life was a failure because it ended in the shame and disgrace on a cross with all his followers abandoning him.

Brian J. Dodd, Empowered Church Leadership, p. 11

When numerical growth is taken as the criterion of judgment on the church, we are transported with alarming ease into the world of the military campaign or the commercial sales drive.

Leslie Newbigin, The Open Secret, p. 127

The fruit of effective ministry should first of all be evident in the life of the minister.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23).

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a high-profile leader in the Church is generally not peace, patience, kindness or gentleness. In fact, these qualities are often lacking.

Christians are routinely taught by example and word that it is more important to be right… than it is to be Christlike. In fact, being right licenses you to be mean, and, indeed, requires you to be mean—righteously mean, of course.

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, p. 238

What matters is not what we are doing and how much we are accomplishing but the kingdom character with which we conduct our business and how we treat people in the process.

Brian J. Dodd, Empowered Church Leadership, pp. 101-102.

The other measure of "success" is faithfulness.

There is no room either for anxiety about our failure or for boasting about our success. There is room only for faithful witness to the one in whom the whole purpose of God for cosmic history has been revealed and effected, the crucified, risen, and regnant Christ.

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 125

But what about the situations where nothing seems to be happening?

For those who lead and reason "in the flesh," suffering is a sign that something is wrong, that something is failing, that we should go in a different direction.… For those who learn to lead in the Spirit, we come to recognize that suffering and struggle are often signs that we are on the right road, that we are heading in the right direction, that we are kicking a dent in the darkness.

Brian J. Dodd, Empowered Church Leadership, p. 66.

"Failure," rather than being a sign that something is wrong, can be an asset.

If we are not very successful in ministry, in whatever way we measure success, then God does not have a hard time getting us out of the way. . . . The burdens of office may have become so heavy that we welcome being bumped aside by Jesus.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 25

Suffering is not the enemy of ministry. It is through suffering and weakness and "defeat" that God accomplished his victory in Jesus Christ. God does not work in spite of our weakness. He works through our weakness.

The way of the cross sometimes leads us into those places where all we can do is hold on. We can't see our way forward, we are confused that God isn't doing what we expect, and we can't see any meaning for all the pain and frustration.

Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi, Kingdom Come, p. 170

We must always do what we know is right and true before God even if it doesn't seem as if it produces results.

Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi, Kingdom Come, p. 172

We must never forget that the path of the cross lead to and through the darkness of death, not around it. Yet the God that we follow is the God of resurrection. We must hang on and stay faithful for as long as it takes.

Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi, Kingdom Come, p. 173

Faithfulness is not a dodge to avoid responsibility. Faithfulness is not a cover for laziness. Faithfulness is not taking the easy way out.

There is a world of difference between being productive and being fruitful, between striving to build Christ's church and allowing Christ to build his church through you.

Stephen Seamands, Ministry in the Image of God, p. 92

When faithfulness is replaced with mere success, we have failed in our obligation to our Lord.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Missional Manifesto III

What is the "job" of a pastor?

These ideas about leadership lead to misguided notions about what the role of a pastor should be. These notions are rooted in culture and are based upon value systems that are contrary to the gospel.

In North America the culture of the strong leader has pushed aside a proper, biblical understanding of the role of a pastor.

A pastor is not a CEO. Yet pastors are encouraged to follow the "take no prisoners" strategy of strong leadership. Because we have turned the mission of the Church into a to-do list and have lost our theological moorings, our pragmatism quickly degenerates into an "ends justify the means" mindset.

A casual observer may more easily compare much of what masquerades for Christianity with Nietzsche's power ideal than with Jesus' focus on vulnerability and service and Paul's conviction that God's power most often shows through our weakness.

Brian J. Dodd, Empowered Church Leadership, p. 83

Some pastors suffer from the messiah complex. They need to be needed. Others buckle under the weight of "responsibility." But this is not a responsibility placed upon them by God. Others mindlessly follow the model of business leaders and sports heroes. As "quarterbacks" it is their job to "take control of the huddle."

We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, pp. 43-44

To be truly effective, pastors must give up the idea that they are the key to success. They must avoid the temptation of thinking that God needs them.

Our strategies, action plans, pastoral resources and entrepreneurial church revitalization techniques have become not the solution but the problem. Our ministries need to be crucified. They need to be killed off.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 10

If anything of any lasting value happens in the Church, it is not because of the skill, effort or dedication of a pastor. The only way anything worthwhile will come about is through the work of the reigning Lord Jesus Christ.

Everything that we "know" about pastoral ministry has to be rethought.

Ministry is not a matter of a minister working hard, preaching relevant sermons, being a super-efficient congregational administrator, attending those who are sick, downcast, grieving and lonely, all the while growing the congregation and charming the people with a winsome and attractive ability to relate warmly.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 119

All that we think we should do and can do and are doing in ministry must be put to death.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 13

So is there nothing for a pastor to do?

There is much important work to be done by pastors. At its heart, the work of a pastor is primarily theological.

The work of theological reflection in a profoundly changing culture must be reintroduced into the daily practices of pastoral life.

Alan Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader, p. 170

The Christian leaders of the future have to be theologians, persons who know the heart of God.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, p. 68

Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

Theological reflection requires fluency in the Scriptures, personal knowledge of God and a deep understanding of the culture. Doing theology should not be left to those in academia. It is not a luxury reserved for those who have extra time. A pastor should never say, "I'm not a theologian."

Theological discernment is the primary skill we need. Regardless of our therapeutic skills, without theological discernment pastoral care does not happen. God undoubtedly is up to something, but it will be in spite of us if we are not focused on the present ministry of Jesus Christ.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 131

The task of pastoral interpretation is through and through theological, always asking the key question Who is Jesus Christ for this person, and what does this mean for faith and faithfulness?

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 137

Doing theology does not mean memorizing the propositions of some dead thinker. The work of theology is more narrative than it is propositional. The content of the Old Covenant is the story of God's interaction with his people to deliver them from slavery, oppression and their own faithlessness. The New Covenant is likewise a story, a continuation of the previous story but with several surprising twists.

At its core, pastoral work involves bearing witness to the joining of two stories, the parishioner's and God's. Who is Jesus Christ specifically for this person amid the particularities and exigencies of her current life experience?

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 128

Proclamation is an important part of the role of pastor. Preaching is not about tips and techniques for a better life. It is not about selling tickets to heaven. It is not about mobilizing volunteers.

Everything else we might do is an addition to speaking of God. Because God is means God acts, we must speak of the God who has acted, does act and will act in time and space in, through and as Jesus Christ. Everything else we do is secondary, no matter what its seeming institutional, programmatic or administrative importance.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 132

Commit yourself again to ever more deeply becoming a careful preacher of Christ. Don't preach to grow your congregation; preach to bear witness to what the Lord is doing, and let him grow your church.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 44

The primary task of the pastor is theological reflection and proclamation. To that the pastor must add the ability to "connect" with other people.

No matter what your theological skills, if you do not know how to relate to another person, your pastoral work will not get off square one.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, pp. 130–131

The effective pastor cares for people, not in the abstract but as individuals. The effective pastor has empathy. The effective pastor knows how to put others at ease and just be with them.

I would argue that in today's society, any attempt to model your life on the life of Christ must include a genuine attempt to hang out regularly in third places. Genuine incarnational living demands it.

Michael Frost, Exiles, p. 59

Incarnational ministry is not about goals, agendas or schedules. Incarnational ministry is simply being with people redemptively. Incarnational ministry is the "enfleshment" of God's love, mercy and grace.

Ministry is no longer about us and our skills. It is now about the real presence of Jesus Christ, whenever and wherever in his gracious freedom and love he is Emmanuel, God with us.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 16

Incarnational ministry is impossible if the focus is on results. When we start to press, we begin to rely on our skills, commitment and effort. The ministry stops being about the presence of Jesus Christ and starts to be about "closing the deal."

All our instincts and training tell us that we should do something. Our sense of responsibility makes us feel guilty that we are not trying "hard enough." But, if we give in to these impulses, we lose our long-term effectiveness, and possibly our souls as well.

To live and minister in light of these truths [of the gospel] you really do have to have a lot of peace in your heart. That comes from the realization that you don't have to make it happen. You just have to be truthful, follow your studies, stay with your fellowship with the few who are close to you, and just keep going. Because, truthfully, what we need is a revolution, but revolution is always very dangerous. And human revolutions always devour their children. And so what we need is a revolution that is actually conducted by Christ. And that means that we have to be content not to make things happen.

Dallas Willard, "New Age of Ancient Christian Spirituality" www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=95

The issue is not How does Jesus get in on our ministries? Instead, because he is the living and reigning Lord, the issue is now What is he up to, and how do I hitch a ride on whatever he is up to?

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry, p. 12

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Evangelicalism’s Magic Eyeglasses

When Joseph Smith "discovered" gold plates buried in the side of a hill in upstate New York, he used magic glasses (or a "peep stone") to translate the unknown language (later "identified" as Reformed Egyptian) into English. This "translation" is known as The Book of Mormon.

But the Mormons are not the only ones who use questionable means to interpret Scripture.

Reverend Russell Rathbun (HT: Maggi Dawn) lists some "rules" that Evangelicals use to apply the Bible. Here's my adaptation of his list:

1. Everything in the Bible is addressed to me and is about me.
   
2. Everything in the Bible is about what I should do and what I should not do.
   
3. The Bible is a collection of principles and timeless truths that are to be discovered and applied according to rule #2.
   
4. The Bible means what I think it means.
   
5. The Gospel is about getting people signed up for heaven.
   
6. Grace is a good concept, but for everyday life we need clear rules.
   
7. Holiness is a good concept, but God doesn't really expect us to be that way.
   

Maybe it's time to take off our magic eyeglasses and let the Bible speak for itself.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

No More Biblical Principles

You can find people offering "Biblical Principles" for just about any subject:

• Biblical Principles for Marriage
  
• Biblical Principles for Business
  
• Biblical Principles for Raising Children
  
• Biblical Principles for Spanking
  
• Biblical Principles for Finances
  
• Biblical Principles for Time Management
  
• Biblical Principles for Conflict Resolution
  
• Biblical Principles for Fitness
  
• Biblical Principles for Government
  
• Biblical Principles for Church Organization
  
• Biblical Principles for Leadership
  
• Biblical Principles for Sex
  
• Biblical Principles for Education
  
• Biblical Principles for Church Music
  
• Biblical Principles for Vegetarianism
  
• Biblical Principles for Bible Study
  
• Biblical Principles for Prosperity
  
• Biblical Principles for Economics
  

So what's the problem?

The problem is that these "biblical principles" do not all agree and are often more an expression of culture than they are of any clear teaching of the Bible.

Just because something is stated in the Bible that doesn't mean it is a "biblical principle."

Some things are clearly presented as biblical principles, especially statements by Jesus. When Jesus said, "Bless those who curse you," he intended for it to be a guiding principle for his disciples.

But a passing statement in the Old Testament should not necessarily be turned into a "biblical principle."

The book of Proverbs is a collection of general truths. These are not "biblical principles" as the phrase is generally used. The precepts collected by Solomon and others require wisdom in their application. Some are even contradictory:

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself (Proverbs 26:4).

Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes (Proverbs 26:5).

Notice that these contradictory statements are found right next to each other. They were never intended to be "biblical principles."

The book of Psalms is a collection of Hebrew poetry. It is not a theology textbook. It is not a collection of "biblical principles."

Here is one of the milder imprecatory psalms:

Break the arm of the wicked and evil man (Psalm 10:15).

Surely that statement was not intended to become a "biblical principle."

The book of Job is a drama composed of speeches by Job, three of his friends, another guy who just shows up without explanation and God. God takes issue with what Job says. He repudiates the speeches of the three friends. And he ignores the comments of the other guy. There important theological lessons to be learned from Job's story. But be wary of any "biblical principles" that are based on proof texts from Job.

Statements made by God to Jeremiah (1:5) or through Jeremiah to the Israelites going into exile (29:11) are not "biblical principles" applying to Christians.

Actions taken by biblical characters are not necessarily templates for "biblical principles" to be applied to business, leadership or government.

Evangelicals seem to prefer a black and white world. They seek rules that they can blindly apply to every situation.

But being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not a paint-by-number project.

Let's have a little less talk about "biblical principles" and a little more focus on living as apprentices of Jesus Christ.

Jesus clearly avoided simplistic answers in his earthly ministry. Why would he want his followers to reduce his teaching now to simplistic rules?

Jesus did not call potential disciples to a code of conduct. He called them to follow him.

As a pastor, I must repent for all those sermons I preached when I said, "This is what the Bible says you should (not) do."

It's not my job to teach "biblical principles." My job is to say along with Paul, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

e-Greed

I have been frustrated for some time by the short-sighted mindset of book publishers.

This mindset seems to be a combination of "this-is-how-we've-always-done-it" thinking and greed. Of course, this phenomenon is not limited to Christian publishers. But it does seem to be especially egregious when done "in the name of Christ."

I do not object to individuals or companies making a profit. I believe that it is an honorable thing to provide something of value to the world and to be financially rewarded for those efforts. But I do have a problem with exploitation and "price gouging."

What makes the current situation in e-publishing particularly frustrating is that the publishers are working against their own long-term interests.

We've seen Hollywood's resistance to new technology create confusion and stagnation in the entertainment industry. The music industry has also contributed to the chaos of digital rights management.

I also believe that our current copyright laws need to be redone to reflect the present state of technology.

But even without any change to the copyright statute, book publishers are missing out on an amazing opportunity to take advantage of today's digital "revolution."

With the invention of the printing press, books quickly went from a luxury item affordable only to a few wealthy individuals or institutions to an inexpensive medium for the transmission of and "democratization" of vast new fields of knowledge.

The Reformation could never have happened without the new world of publishing made possible by the printing press. It is hard to imagine the Industrial Revolution ever gathering any "steam" as long as books needed to be copied by hand. The Scientific Revolution was an effect of the print technology "cause."

"In just three years, between 1517 and 1520, Martin Luther's 30 publications probably sold more than 300,000 copies."

Before the printing press, a handwritten Bible might take a single monk 20 years to transcribe. In 1424, Cambridge University library owned only 122 books, and each of them cost the equivalent of a small farm. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, by 1500 there were more than 9 million books in Europe.

Imagine what would have happened if William Caxton had marketed his edition of The Canterbury Tales with this approach:

You can purchase your own copy of the ribald tales in Chaucer's masterpiece. The hand-copied edition would set you back a lifetime of earnings. But now you can buy this work produced by the new printing press at a substantial discount. For a mere five-years' salary you can order your personal edition. Once enough individuals sign up for this pre-publication offer, we will begin setting the type.

That's enough historical reflection. Now for my rant.

Disclaimer: What follows in my experience and my opinion. I do not claim that this company is alone guilty of the practices and attitudes I mention. Nor do I claim that it is the worst offender.

Some time ago, I purchased the Scholar's Library: Gold from Logos Bible Software. Its current price is $1379.95.

As I recall, that's the same price that I paid. It was a lot of money. But I thought it was a good investment.

The concept is appealing.

1. Electronic books require no shelf space (something that I have less and less of).
   
2. I can search all my books by topic or Bible reference.
   
3. I can do research much more efficiently than with printed books.
   

Since my initial purchase, I have bought one additional book: The Hermeneutical Spiral by Grant Osborne. I had thought about buying the print edition, and the electronic edition was slightly cheaper. But I've gotten little use out of the book in the six month's I've owned it.

Well, I don't really own the book. I have a copy of it on my hard drive, but I can only access it from the Logos software and only on this one computer.

In December, I received an e-mail of an offer that was "too good to be true." For a mere $395.95 I could "own" $6,000 worth of books (300 individual titles). Of course, the value is calculated by what I would have to pay to get print editions of these works. Also, as an owner of the Scholar's Library Gold package, I already have several of them (about one-third). Oh, and I have to buy before December 31, 2007. Any CDs not sold by then will be destroyed and never offered again. And in case I have a slight shortage of cash, I can go on the installment plan starting at $55 dollars a month.

They include a little disclaimer that sounds like it was written by the Payday Advance Loan people:

The payment plan is a budgeting tool which can be used wisely or irresponsibly—"choose wisely". Don't use a payment plan or buy products you can not afford. While we would love everyone to buy all our books, we do not want people to go into debt because of us or abuse a payment plan.

Did I mention that several of the books most people would never buy unless they were included in a "package deal"? And a few of them appeared to be the public domain.

I don't have to buy it. By not buying it I am not harmed in any way. The value of my previous purchase does not diminish if I pass on this "upgrade."

So what's my problem with this offer?

For starters, it sounds like I'm being sold a used car.

Things like "offer good only" until December 31, leftover product will be destroyed, never be offered again, installment plan.

Second, the price of the print editions is irrelevant.

Only a fraction of the retail price of a printed work goes to the author. The remainder goes for production and distribution costs. Eventually, the production and distribution costs of an electronic product are zero. Yes, the books have to be created in the electronic format, but this only has to be done once. Even new editions can be produced with virtually no work. And customers can download electronic books at an insignificant cost to the publisher.

Third, these "special offer" prices should be the regular prices.

If they can afford to sell these books at the "one time offer" price, they could sell them forever at the same price. Every additional copy is pure profit, once the royalties are paid.

This whole electronic publishing thing could be revolutionary.

What if I could convert my own documents into the same format and add them to my purchased collection?

Surprise, I can do just that with the Personal Book Builder.

For a mere $89.95 I can buy software to convert my own documents. But wait, the license is good only for one year. And no one else can use the documents I create. I can't even use them unless I access them on the very same computer on which they were created.

Of course there is the Personal Book Builder—Standard Edition. It will set me back $249.95. And it's also only good for one year. What's more, I cannot "sell" my documents to anyone else. I can only distribute them for free. If I want to sell them, I must buy a different (more expensive) license and pay additional processing fees.

Even with this software, converting my own documents is a complex process involving several steps.

And then, only Logos customers who own one of the "seven boxed products" will be able to read my work.

Have these guys heard of Adobe Acrobat?

Their business model seems to be based on protecting their ability to charge premium prices for their software and electronic "books." The irony is that they would be able to make significantly more money if they weren't so greedy. Of course, they are not the only ones who are greedy here. The print publishers are trying to hang on to their stranglehold of the market. They find themselves the owners of electronic rights that they

• Claimed for books they had published before there was such a thing.
  
• Tricked unsuspecting authors into giving away.
  

And they are selling these works at a price point that is designed to protect the printed product, a price point that gives them (but not the author) an obscene percentage of profit.

The truth is that traditional publishers are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Instead of positioning themselves to add real value in a new world, they are trying to slow down technological progress.

Someday, someone will provide a low-cost, high-value channel for publishing and purchasing electronic works. Whoever does will become ridiculously wealthy. And I'll be able to say, "I told you so."

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

7 Reasons People Do Not Understand the Bible

Most people do not understand the Bible.

I've addressed several specific passages that people tend to misunderstand. But in this post I want to look at why people so often misunderstand what they read in the Bible. I can think of at least seven reasons:

1. They start with a bad translation.

Many people try to read the King James Version and get bogged down in the archaic language. This translation was first made in 1611. It uses language similar to what you would find in one of Shakespeare's plays. For most people, this translation might as well be in a foreign language.

At the other extreme are The Living Bible and The Message. These versions are not properly translations. They are what are known as paraphrases. They are easy to understand, but they are simplified explanations of one person's idea of what the Bible says rather than what the Bible actually says.

Another type that leads people astray is the strictly literal translation. An example of this would be the New American Standard Bible. It uses an artificial model of language translation that often results in an awkward style of English. Anyone who has studied a foreign language knows that there is not a simple one-to-one correspondence between words in two languages.

Good versions combine accurate translation with natural-sounding English. A couple of examples are the New International Version and the English Standard Version.

2. They are lazy.

Probably the most common reason that people don't understand the Bible is that they are too lazy to do the work that is necessary.

One form that this takes is assuming that every verse in the Bible is a personal memo written just to them. They read a particular verse and interpret it as if God just wrote it that morning with them specifically in mind. Pastors can sometimes be the worst offenders of this mistake.

Another way that people are lazy is that they only read a little bit of the Bible and expect to understand it. Each sentence of the Bible must be understood in the context of the paragraph of which it is a part. And that paragraph must be understood in the context of the entire book (such as Romans or Luke). The book must be understood in the context of the entire story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

Each book must also be understood in the context of the shared culture of the author and the readers. Many people think that they should be able to read a portion of the Bible and understand it instantly without any background information. But all communication is built upon a foundation of common knowledge.

Because we are removed in time and culture from the original readers, we lack some of that common knowledge. This results both in a lack of understanding and in misunderstanding.

3. They are tone deaf.

Just as there are different styles of music, there are different styles of writing. But many treat the Bible as if it were all the same. They read Proverbs as if it were a physics textbook. But it is actually a collection of general truths. In fact, some proverbs contradict other proverbs. The book of Job (pronounced JOBE) is a drama. It is not intended to be read as if it were a court transcript. The books written by Paul in the New Testament are letters written to specific people usually in response to particular situations that Paul felt needed to be addressed urgently.

Treating the whole Bible as if it were an instruction manual is not only confusing, but it is also dangerous.

4. They treat it like a dead frog.

In the olden days (when I was in high school) students dissected frogs in biology class. These frogs were dead, of course, preserved in formaldehyde. The idea was that the best way to understand how a frog was put together was to take one apart.

This works for machines, electronics and dead animals. It is not recommended for spouses, however. If you want to know what makes your spouse "tick," you must interact with him or her as a living being.

The Bible is more like a spouse than a dead frog.

Too many people think that they can analyze the details of a Bible passage and arrive at the exact meaning of the text. But this treats the Bible as a dead thing.

Instead of us operating on the Bible, it needs to operate on us. As long as we are dissecting and analyzing the Bible, we are keeping it at arm's length. We are treating it like an object.

5. They believe in magic.

Most people do not know the difference between magic and the supernatural. They tend to read the Bible as if it were a fairy tale where anything can happen. They assume that God can do anything he wants. But this is completely wrong.

Even miracles have rules.

The Bible tells us that reality is much more than what we can see and touch. God is not limited by what appears to be possible. But that doesn't mean that just anything can happen. Reality operates according to "laws," even in the supernatural realm.

What we think of as "natural laws" are just a subset of true reality. (This is similar to the relationship between Newtonian physics and Einsteinian physics.) God is able to act in ways that seem to violate natural laws. But he is really only acting according to a higher "law."

6. They can only see trees.

Many people focus on the details in the Bible and miss the big picture. The Bible is in essence one big story.

It starts with creation and mankind's rebellion against God. Then it tells of the people that God called to be his own, starting with Abraham. Abraham's descendants became God's chosen people through whom God intended to reach the entire world. But the chosen people took this to be a privilege instead of a responsibility and failed in their calling.

"In the fullness of time," God came to us in the form of Jesus Christ. He established a new people. He proved himself faithful and defeated the forces of evil by dying a brutal, humiliating death. But he rose victorious from the grave and now reigns in heaven until the day when he will bring final, complete justice. In the meantime, he has left his Church to do the work of his kingdom.

Every verse, paragraph and chapter of the Bible must be understood in the context of this story.

7. They think they are Simon Cowell.

Finally, people don't understand the Bible because they sit in judgment of the Bible instead of allowing the Bible to evaluate them. They pick and chose the parts that they like and ignore the rest. They come to the Bible with their philosophy and their theology and force the text to fit their preconceptions.

Or they use the Bible to condemn other people. They tell others what they should and shouldn't do. They hunt down heretics and apostates. They engage in the "ministry" of discernment.

Without humility, we cannot truly understand the Bible. We must be prepared for parts of the Bible that refuse to conform to our preconceptions. We must be prepared for the Bible to challenge our attitudes and assumptions. We must be prepared to encounter the living Christ, the true Word of God, in the pages of God's "word."

These are seven reasons that I believe many people fail to understand the Bible. Let me know what you think. Do you have other reasons that you'd like to add? Do you disagree with some of my reasons?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Thinking Out Loud

Disclaimer: The following thoughts are offered to stimulate further thought. If you have anything to add (positive or negative) please leave a comment.

Many of the ideas people have about what God must be like come from Greek philosophy rather than from divine revelation. The idea that God cannot change in any way comes from a philosophical assumption about perfection.

The reasoning goes like this:

• Change involves getting better or getting worse.
  
• If God gets better, then he was not perfect before.
  
• If God gets worse, then he is no longer perfect.
  
• But God is eternally perfect.
  
• Therefore, God cannot change in any way.
  
  

But this is not the God of the Bible. This "god" is simply a philosophical construct that cannot have anything resembling a relationship. Such a god certainly cannot be acted upon or be affected by the actions of any other being. But he could not even "act" except in the sense that his being emanates eternally into some form of "action."

This "perfect" god could not plan out the creation of a universe. Even hypothetical actions in his mind must be perfect without any false starts. The whole "plan" must exist perfectly formed "all at once." What is more, that plan must have existed in his mind from all eternity. A god who devises a "plan" to create a universe is superior to a god who cannot do so or who hasn't yet gotten around to doing so.

Neither can this god enact his perfect plan. To do so would make him superior to a god who can't or hasn't. The "actions" of a "perfect" god would not be actions at all. They would be products that automatically and eternally result from his perfect eternal nature.

Yet the God of the Bible expresses

• regret (1 Samuel 15:35—The Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.),
  
• frustration (Exodus 4:14—Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses.),
  
• disappointment (Jeremiah 3:7—I thought that after she [Israel] had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.),
  
• outrage (Ezekiel 5:13—Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside.),
  
• delight (Deuteronomy 3:9, 10—The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands.), and
  
• joy (Zephaniah 3:17— The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.).
  
  

It is because of the philosophical view of God that he is assumed to be "outside" time. If he is "perfect" (according to the Greek view) then he cannot change in any way. To participate in time is to change.

If we imagine some hypothetical being who never changed in any way, it would be exactly the same at every point in time. If it is exactly the same today as it was three years ago, how can it be said to have participated in time in any meaningful way? Without some change in knowledge, feeling, attitude, intention, experience or some other property, there can be no involvement in time. Such a being could not have a relationship with a time-bound being anymore than a statue could have a relationship with a human being.

We say that God is "outside" time. But in order to interact with humans, God must participate in time in some way. Certainly the Incarnation was an instance of God "entering" time.

If Jesus is fully God and fully human, it seems unavoidable that God (in the Second Person of the Trinity) must be different in some way than he was before the Incarnation, before the coming together of the divine and human in the person of Jesus Christ.

That God is not bound by time seems beyond dispute. Time appears to be a property of creation. When God created the universe, he created time. But not being bound by time is not the same thing as "timeless."

When we try to conceptualize timelessness or eternity, we tend to image some sort of a steady state—an unchanging condition. In such a situation, nothing interesting happens. (No wonder that many people think heaven will be boring.)

But if that is the nature of God, creation could never have taken place. The only option would be for some kind of pantheistic world that eternally emanates from the divine being.

Timelessness does not allow for "before" or "after." But if God created the universe, there had to be a "before." There had to be a "time" before God had the idea to create the universe. After he had the idea, he "developed" his plan or strategy. He chose from among all the possible worlds he could have created to fashion this particular one. Did all this just pop into God's mind fully formed? If so, in what sense can it be said that he planned it or designed it?

(It seems that a distorted view of God's "sovereignty" logically results in a God who is also ruled by his own kind of determinism.)

If God is going to have any sort of a relationship with human beings, he must be able to interact with time. The Incarnation of Jesus is evidence that he has done just that.

The timeless god of Greek philosophy cannot do that.

But what about the biblical assertion that God does not change?

Let's look at a few of them:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

This statement follows an argument about the nature of temptation. James says that no one should accuse God of causing temptation. The reason is that God is good and that only good comes from him, because his goodness does not wax or wane.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19

These words are from the oracle of Balaam, who was hired by a king to pronounce a curse on the Israelites. What he is saying is that because God has already blessed them it is impossible to curse them. Once God has made a promise, he does not go back on it. Essentially Balaam is saying that God is a "man" of his word.

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.
1 Samuel 15:29

These are the words of Samuel to King Saul, who has just been informed that God is revoking his appointment as king of Israel. In other words, Samuel is telling Saul that the revocation is absolute and that there is no appeal.

I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Malachi 3:6

God is telling the Israelites that they have been faithless. And because of their faithlessness they should have expected to have been destroyed. The only reason that they haven't been is because Yahweh has remained faithful to his covenant even though the Israelites have failed to keep their part of the agreement.

Paul takes up the same theme:

Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:11-13

God does not disown himself—change his basic nature. It is not possible for him to break faith.

This very characteristic of God often causes him to "change his mind":

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah 3:10

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man—the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.
Hosea 11:8-9

Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.
Psalms 106:40-45

Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Exodus 32:14

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Joel 2:13

So the Lord relented. "This will not happen," the Lord said.
Amos 7:3

So the Lord relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign Lord said.
Amos 7:6

Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them?
Jeremiah 26:19

(emphasis added)

Interestingly enough, one of the passages that proponents of theological determinism like to use teaches just the opposite:

Then the word of the Lord came to me:
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."
Jeremiah 18:5-10

(emphasis added)

The Lord is announcing that he retains the flexibility to respond to the choices that people make. This seems to be anything but the impassive, imperturbable, immutable "God" suggested by Greek philosophy and deterministic theology.

• This is a God who has a real relationship with his people.
  
• This is a God who reacts and responds to the choices of his creatures.
  
• This is a God who is able to participate in time.
  
  

Make no mistake about it, Yahweh is perfect.

The point is that "perfect" doesn't mean what Greek philosophy has always thought it means.

The Lord is complete and lacking in nothing. But he is not the detached watchmaker of deism or the stoic deity of Plato.

He is the Eternal One who is perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"