Archive for the 'scripture' Category

“I Am of Christ”

Published
by
Mike
on October 30, 2006
in scripture
. 71 Comments

“I am of Christ.”

That sounds like such a nice descriptor. Others may claim to be of Paul, and others of Apollos (two influential teachers in Corinth) — but I am of Christ.

So why does one have the feeling that Paul didn’t have warm feelings about those who made that claim (1 Cor. 1:12)? Because there were schisms in the church in Corinth: maybe within the house churches, maybe between the house churches, perhaps when they all came together. And behind the schisms, there was a lot of pride at work and a dearth of love.

There were fracture lines appearing, partly because they were attached to their teachers in unhealthy ways (but ways that would have been familiar in Corinth).

But others, dripping in pride and exclusivism, were only “of Christ.”

That resonates with me. Because for part of my life I took pride in not being of Wesley or Calvin, of Luther, and certainly not of the Pope. Just a Christian.

The desire to be “just a Christ-follower” can be very healthy. But it must not become a source of separation from others whom we don’t deem to be just as pure; and it should not ignore the fact that we’ve been influenced by many men and women and of faith. None of us is completely objective. None of us is reading scripture without bias. None of us finds our place in the family of God by being perfect–either in living or in biblical interpretation.

As I lived in those words of Paul last week, it reminded me of how subtle and dangerous spiritual pride is. It is so well disguised, masquerading in costumes of restoration and humility.

Beware anytime there is a church or a group that thinks it has cornered the market on spirituality, interpretation, or missionality. Let us follow the leading of God’s Spirit as he helps us live for the sake of the world; but let us recognize that there are many, many other followers of Jesus who may worship differently, talk differently and think differently.

melhailey.com

Published
by
Mike
on October 23, 2006
in Baseball, politics and scripture
. 27 Comments

Early voting begins today. Go, Mel!

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I’m pretty sure every Cardinals fan around would gladly have taken one win and one loss in those first two games. Now it’s back to St. Louis with our best pitchers ready to go. I checked into game 4 tickets — but nothing even remotely affordable.

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And now a note to fellow Bible Geeks. This Sunday I’m beginning a series on 1 Corinthians called “One for All and All for One.” Here are the works that have been most helpful to me in the past and as I’ve prepared this time:

Special studies:
Margaret Mitchell, Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation
Gerd Theissen, Social Settings of Pauline Christianity
Daniel Schowalter and Steven Friesen, eds., Urban Religion in Roman Corinth (with a great article by my buddy James Walters)

Also, the commentaries by Craig Keener, Richard Hays, Gordon Fee, and Ben Witherington. (I have Anthony Thiselton’s; I’m guessing it’s wonderful; but I haven’t really worked in it yet.)

End Things

Published
by
Mike
on October 17, 2006
in faith and scripture
. 58 Comments

Yesterday was a wild day in class as students cut loose asking questions about “end things”:

1. Is hell literal, eternal punishment (500 billion centuries as a brief beginning of punishment for not knowing about Jesus) . . . or is it a figurative way of describing the end/destruction of that which is evil (annihilation)? . . . or is it possible that God’s moving everyone/everything toward redemption?

2. Is heaven “up there” or “down here”? I.e., will God wipe this earth out of existence?

3. Is someone dead just dead . . . or is only their body dead while their spirit is still alive? (In other words, what is the meaning of resurrection?)

4. Is there such a thing as a rapture? Will there be a literal battle of Armaggedon?

5. Will we know people in heaven? Will we be in relationship with them?

The only part of the discussion I didn’t particularly like was the question one student asked in the middle, “Will we need to know all this for the test?” No teacher likes that question because it sounds like, “Do I have to pay attention to this?” But, giving students the benefit of the doubt, maybe it just means, “Do I need to write all this down, or can I just lay my pen down, listen closely, and learn?” (Let’s assume the latter.)

I know, I know: you’re wanting to know what I said in regard to all these questions. Maybe later.

The Wild-Man Ezekiel

Published
by
Mike
on September 13, 2006
in General and scripture
. 42 Comments

I’m so glad to have Don McLaughlin speaking at Highland this Sunday. Two of his sons are members, so it was a bit easier to get him. Don will be speaking Tuesday evening. It made a lot of sense to ask him to speak in this series called “The Church Has Left the Building,” because Don is one of the most intentionally missional people I’ve ever met in my life. Highland folks, trust me: you’ll love his preaching!

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There’s an interesting article in the last ACU Optimist about how a church in Abilene has started a Sunday morning service that is only for university students. (A tiny little correction was made online. The article, as it appeared in the paper, said that they were developing an “all student worship band.” It now has been corrected online to say an “all student worship team”! I knew what they meant.)

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ACU lectureship gets started in four days with Jack Reese giving the opening night address. We’re looking forward to having my parents come down from Missouri for the lectures.

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Chris’s first official 8th grade football game was last night. He played last year, but he had just been out of the wheelchair for a couple months and had just been out of the back brace for about a month. In August (2005), his orthopedic surgeon in Ft. Worth told him that he was released to play anything except football. Then he could tell Chris was disappointed.

Doc: “Did you want to play football?”
Chris: “Yes, sir.”
Doc: (Long pause.) “All right, I’ll release you for football, too.”
Diane: “Excuse me, I have a question. Why did you say everything but football in the first place?”

Turns out some pediatric orthopedic surgeons aren’t that crazy about football anyway.

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Yesterday when I read Ezekiel I remembered how some people have said he had psychological problems. They base this on the strange behavior (we’re talking, at times, very strange), and the strong writing (sometimes ranting and sometimes, well, explicit — like chapter 23).

But he was a prophet ablaze with a passion for the holiness of God. As he spoke from Babylon (having been deported), he had to pull out all stops to remind people of the judgment of God (especially chapters 1-24) and to evoke images of the hope from God (chapters 25-48).

19 Cent Gas . . . and Wall-Building

Published
by
Mike
on September 6, 2006
in memories and scripture
. 27 Comments

Am I the only one who has paid $.19/gallon for gas? Back when I first got my driver’s license in Missouri, there were occasional gas wars that drove the price of gas down from $.24/gal to $.19/gal.

We were a Ford family (had to do with who did the most advertising in the newspaper where my dad was the publisher), so I drove a Falcon. That was followed by a Maverick.

Yesterday, the range of gas prices I saw in Abilene was from $2.30/gal to $2.64/gal. I decided to go with the $2.30. That’s quite a free fall from the $2.99 of a couple months ago.

The temptation every time gas falls a bit or a new source is discovered (as was reported yesterday) is to forget about the need for conservation. But we all know that over the long haul, that’s essential. There is not an unlimited supply of oil, and we must not be in a situation where our oil dependence dictates foreign policy.

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Yesterday as I read Nehemiah, these insights stuck with me:

First, he was a man on a mission — to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (about 445 B.C.) — and wasn’t going to be deterred by opposition. Sanballat, the fly in his soup, sent him a letter through an aide that read:

“It is reported among the nations — and Geshem says it is true — that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”

He sent this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” He knew they were just trying to discourage him so he wouldn’t complete his task. So Nehemiah prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

Second, he was angered by the way the people of privilege were ignoring the needs of the poorer members of the community. He challenged them: “Let us stop charging interest! Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them — one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”

And third, when the law of God was interpreted and explained to the people and when they were filled with sorrow, Nehemiah told them not to weep. There’s a time for repentant sorrow, but this was a time of joy. The word of God was being heard and they were being reformed as a community of trust. So he said: “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Favorite Bible Character

Published
by
Mike
on August 23, 2006
in scripture
. 82 Comments

Those old stories of scripture — of Abraham, of Sarah, of Isaac, of Rebekah, of Joseph, of Moses, of Joshua, of Deborah, of David, of Daniel, of Esther, of Mary, of Paul, of Peter . . . — have shaped our lives. They’ve given us wisdom, perspective, and courage. They’ve guided us by times of failure and times of great trust.

So who — besides Jesus — has most captured your imagination through the years? In other words, who’s your favorite Bible character? And (if you have time) why?

Gutenberg

Published
by
Mike
on July 18, 2006
in Books and scripture
. 39 Comments

If you had to pick which you think has had more of an impact on the world, would you choose the printing press or the personal computer? Perhaps it’s too early to tell.

But this much we know: Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) changed the world dramatically.

We’re used to books being cranked out that are exactly alike. If one page of a book has no errors, then that’ll be true of the next 100,000 copies. If there is an error, then you’ll find the same error on the other copies.

As you likely know, the first major work (1455) of his press was the Gutenberg Bibles, copies of the Latin Vulgate translation of scripture. The first priting of the Greek text of the New Testament came almost six decades later (1514).

But before the invention of moveable type, the copying of scripture was done by Christ-followers very slowly: line by line, word by word, letter by letter. For the first three centuries, most copying was done by “nonprofessionals” — i.e., by those who were just literate Christians (which was likely less than 10% of the population) rather than by professional scribes.

Probably around the fourth century, this job was passed on to professional Christian scribes, many of whom worked in a scriptoria — places for the copying of manuscripts.

We don’t have any of the original copies of the New Testament gospels and letters. We don’t even have copies of the copies. Our major manuscripts come from the fourth century and later (though there are a few pieces of papyri that date back into the second century).

It makes me thankful for brothers and sisters in Christ who took on the serious task of preserving scripture — both the early nonprofessionals and the later professional scribes. I rarely have the patience to sit and copy a whole page of notes. They went meticulously through page after page after page.

And it makes me thankful for the work of Gutenberg and others who made the process a bit easier.

Now — printing press or personal computer?

Isaiah 56-66

Published
by
Mike
on July 11, 2006
in General and scripture
. 39 Comments

I’ve been preaching on Wednesday nights from Isaiah 56-66. What an incredible chunk of scripture.

Feast on these words of imagination and conviction:

“For this is what the high and exalted One says –
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
‘I live in a high and holy place,
but also with those who are contrite
and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here I am.”

“Sure the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.”

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn . . . .”

“But you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us
or Israel acknowledge us;
you, Lord, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.”

“All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
Yet you, Lord, are our father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.”

“See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
Never again will there be in it
infants who live but a few days . . . .”

“For this is what the Lord says:
‘ . . . As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you.’”

What jumps out at you from these passages?

The Kingdom of God

Published
by
Mike
on June 29, 2006
in faith and scripture
. 32 Comments

The primary message of Jesus of Nazareth was the kingdom of God. It lies right at the heart of what his life and his message were about, according to the gospels. As his public ministry was launched he said, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Many of the stories he told were introduced with these words: “The kingdom of God is like . . . .”

Those words undoubtedly got the attention of his listeners. Most of the Jewish sects were eagerly awaiting the kingdom of God, though they were conceiving of it in very different ways. They anticipated the day when God would break in, defeat the hated Romans, and restore the land to his people.

The framework for this teaching goes back to the Old Testament, of course. There we learn that God is the King of the universe.

For the Lord Most High is awesome,
the great King over all the earth. . . .
God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
(Psalm 47:2, 7)

For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
(Psalm 95:3-6)

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
(Psalm 103:19)

This God who created everything is the King of kings. No wonder so many of the prophetic visions anticipate a day when his rule will extend throughout the world. (See, e.g., Isaiah 11:6-9; Micah 4:1-4; Isaiah 65:17-25; and Daniel 7:13-14.)

What hope! A day is coming when the wolf and lamb will feed together, when infants will not die, when weeping and crying will be heard no more. The Shalom of God in its fulness!

Then John the Baptist comes announcing the nearness of the kingdom (Matthew 3:2 - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”). And Jesus builds his teaching around that conviction.

The kingdom, we learn, isn’t what many of the Jews thought. It isn’t a political kingdom (John 18:36). Rather, it is the dynamic presence of God in Jesus Christ. “Kingdom” refers to the rule of God, to his sovereign reign in this world.

And in Jesus this kingdom was (is) present. He healed the sick, saved the lost, gave sight to the blind, and invited the poor. The reign of God was breaking in. The future had arrived to reverse the curse and to set the world right as God had intended it through the life and ministry of Jesus.

His stories and teaching pointed to a very different kind of kingdom than most of the Jews expected — a kingdom that was inverted, where the poor are blessed, the sinners are received, the dead are made alive, and the last will be first.

They shouldn’t look for armies and thrones and political borders, he told them. “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21).

He came reversing the curse and taking the world back to the way God intended in creation. That’s the kingdom, or rule of God. So he taught his disciples to live with the perspective of the kingdom. That’s what the Sermon on the Mount is: living in light of the inbreaking reign of God. Living in harmony with God and with others and with the world God created and blessed.

He taught them (and us) to pray: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s been widely recognized that these are parallel requests. He’s praying for the kingdom to come — or in other words, for God’s will to be done in this realm called earth just as it is in God’s realm called heaven. We’re praying for the rule of God to come more and more and, in essence, we’re reporting for duty to be a part of this. We’re offering our lives in confession, repentence, faith, and mission.

Some have thought we should no longer pray the Lord’s Prayer because the church has been established. But to reduce the dynamic concept of kingdom to the church is a serious mistake. The church enters the kingdom of God; the church receives the kingdom of God; and the church announces the kingdom of God. But the church doesn’t exhaust the kingdom of God! So we continue praying as Jesus taught us for the kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. As long as there is evidence of the curse, as long as the wolf and lamb aren’t feeding together, as long as infants are still dying, as long as there is weeping and crying, as long as there is war, as long as there is hatred, bitterness, and resentment — it’s still safe to pray this prayer.

The future reign of God has broken in through the presence of Jesus. And yet . . . it hasn’t arrived in its fullness. We are living “between the times” — between the incarnation/death/resurrection of Jesus and the coming consummation that we await.

Paul’s writings carry that important tension concerning the rule of God. Sometimes when he refers to the kingdom he’s talking about a present reality (Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 4:20), while at other times he’s referring to a future hope (1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 15:24, 50).

Meanwhile, we continue to yield our lives to the reign of God. We seek to be used by him as lights in the world. We wait, hope, long, groan, pray, and work. We keep one eye on the task before us, knowing that the reign of God is present in Jesus Christ, and we keep one eye peeled for the future act of God when the dead will be raised, all tears will be wiped away, and God himself will be in our midst (Revelation 21-22).

Finally, these words from William Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas’s book Lord Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life:

The kingdom of God that is coming, here, not here, present, not fully present, is a banquet, a great party thrown for outsiders who, before Jesus, had no place in the promises of God to Israel. By an amazing act of generosity, Jesus has made possible a party to which even Gentiles like us have been invited. The kingdom of God is a party to which all of the good people refused the invitation so the host went out and invited all of the bad people. The kingdom of God is a party for a bunch of people with whom we wouldn’t be caught dead spending a Saturday night, had we not also been invited.

This is one of the reasons why being in the church can be a real pain, considering the sort of reprobates Jesus has invited to the party, the party that is called kingdom of God.

We are able to live hopefully in a fallen-yet-being-redeemed world because of the One who has taught us to pray “this way.” As Christians, to us has been given the grace to know that we live between the times, having seen the fullness of God in Jesus Christ, yet also knowing that all the world is not yet fulfilled as God’s world. That tension, stretched as we are between what is ours now in Christ and that which is yet promised, is our role as God’s people. We, you and I, are living, breathing evidence that God has not abandoned the world. We are able continually and fervently to pray that God’s kingdom come because we know that God’s will has been done. We are able to be honest about all the ways in which this world is not the kingdom of God in its fullness and to hope for more because we know that God’s will has yet to be done, God’s kingdom has yet to come. We are able to live without despair in the world’s present situation because, even in us, God has claimed a bit of enemy territory, has wrestled something from the forces of evil and death. That reclaimed, renovated territory is us.

Re-Imagination

Published
by
Mike
on June 11, 2006
in scripture
. 7 Comments

Wednesday night I began a series at Highland on the theme of “re-imagination” from Isaiah 56-66.

Many have noticed that there seem to be three chunks of Isaiah: chapters 1-39, which warn the Jews to repent or face judgment; chapters 40-55, which offer hope to those in exile; and chapters 56-66, which try to imagine (again) a way to live after the exile.

Last Wednesday - Re-Imagining God
June 14 - Re-Imagining Salvation
June 21 - Re-Imagining Life
June 28 - Re-Imagining Justice (led by Dr. John Willis)
July 5 - Re-Imagining Hope
July 12 - Re-Imagining the Gospel

Haven’t all of us been there at one time or another — after failure, fractured relationship, illness, or death? A time when we have to re-imagine our lives in light of what we’ve learned?

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.(Is. 60:1-3)