BeachCast.TV: Bible Exploration, Apologetics and Church History with Dr. Chase A. Thompson:

Today's Bible passages include Exodus 13 (the aftermath of the Passover), Job 31 (a fascinating and powerful meditation on holiness for worshippers of Yahweh), 2nd Corinthians 1 (the comfort of Christ to those who are suffering.) and Luke 16 - our focus passage of the day. In this passage, Jesus is focused on issues related to money and possessions, and perhaps the most difficult to understand parable of Jesus is present -the Parable of the Dishonest Manager. Is Jesus praising a manager who behaves dishonestly and unethically in this passage? It's very confusing, and caused some raised eyebrows at our family devotional reading for tonight. Here is Dr. Darrell Bock's take on this particular parable:

Luke 16:1–8 contains probably the most difficult parable in Luke. It clearly teaches about the use of money and the responsibility attached to its presence, but how precisely is that point made? Two options stand out. The manager was dishonest in reducing the bills of the master's creditors but was thinking ahead; so Jesus commends his crafty, forward-looking use of resources. The manager may have been dishonest earlier, but in reducing the bills, he is simply cutting out some of his own hefty commission in hope of goodwill later. If so, Jesus commends him for his creative use of foresight that provides for his care later.

The choice between the options is one of those cases where the interpretive decision is difficult. Either option can be correct. Jesus may be using a negative example of an unethical action to make the point about the use of resources in a negative way. But I prefer the option that argues the manager acted with foresight in this situation by cutting himself out of the bill short term, so that people he knows will have compassion on him later. Thus Jesus' point is not built on an example of dishonesty. It illustrates precisely Jesus' point, namely, to use the resources God gives us wisely and generously.

Darrell L. Bock, Luke, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 418–419.

Dr. Bock may well be correct here, but I believe the major point that Jesus is making is not - you should be dishonest like the dishonest manager. Rather, it would appear that the major point He is making is that you should use your money for something other than buying super-nice things and constantly treating yourself, etc - but instead use your money on things that can make an eternal difference - like making friends, building relationships and taking care of people. That sort of an investment is an ETERNAL investment, because it will pay dividends, so to speak, in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven but buying mansions, expensive cars and the most elite designer clothing will not make a jot of difference in the Kingdom of Heaven. This seems to comport with another powerful teaching of Jesus:

19 "Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-20

So - let's talk about money. This is one of those areas where people have strong opinions, and they hold tightly to their opinions. I'll go ahead and say it again - I believe that followers of Jesus are under the authority of the Word of God. One of the two or three most fundamental questions of Christianity is this: Must you obey what God says to you through His Word? If the answer to that question is yes - absolutely - we obey all that the Word of God commands us to do, then I believe that to be one of the distinguishing marks of being a disciple - a saved follower of Jesus. If your answer to the question is something other than an unequivocal yes, then it is likely that you aren't following Jesus as Lord, but you merely regard Him as a good teacher, or something like that. When we pick and choose our theology - rejecting some of the New Testament commands of the Bible as dated, or not applicable to us, then WE are Lord. We decide what we want to follow or not. The trouble with US being Lord is that we can't save ourselves.

So - how we obey the New Testament commands about money - and how we handle the New Testament teachings about money - says a lot about WHO our Lord is. I say all of that because what the Bible teaches about money is usually not compatible with the 'American Dream.' The Bible is consistently against the pursuit of wealth when that wealth is to be spent on oneself. The Bible consistently warns against the heart-changing dangers of wealth also. It is not a sin to be rich, and I praise God and am eternally grateful for the Kingdom-minded, giving-focused people I know who have skill at earning money, but yet pursue the Kingdom of God. Indeed, being well-off isn't a sin (see 1 Timothy 6:17-19, +Joseph of Arimathea, Zaccheus, etc) but it is a sin to be self-centered and to spend your life in the pursuit of mammon/worldly wealth rather than in the pursuit of the Kingdom of God. As Jesus warns us here in Luke 16 - we can't pursue both kingdoms - wealth and God's Kingdom at the same time. We can pursue one or the other, but not both. Let's read the passage, and then talk about the Bible's teaching on money.

5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.

Hebrews 13:5

10 The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. 11 When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? 12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-12

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. 8 If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

1 Timothy 6:6-10

15 He then told them, "Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions."

Luke 12:15

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.

Proverbs 22:1

Some soldiers also questioned him, "What should we do?" He said to them, "Don't take money from anyone by force or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

Luke 3:14

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Mark 8:36

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 11:4

Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9

Happy Lord's Day, friends! As has become our habit today's pod will be short and sweet. Lot's of Scripture, not much commentary. Our Bible passages for the day include Job 30, Luke 15, 1 Corinthians 16 and our focus passage Exodus 12, which is the Passover passage. Notice the most important passages:

7 They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them... 13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt... 21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. 22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, he will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you.

Excerpts from Exodus 12

As a reminder, God had sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to tell him to let the Israelites go from their slavery. Pharaoh, refused again and again - even in the face of terrible supernatural plagues that God was sending His way. So God finally sends the final plague, which would cause the death of the firstborn in every house in the country of Egypt - EXCEPT for the houses with blood on their doors. Let's read the Exodus passage, and come back for a discussion.

The meme/graphic above makes the entire point of this passage in such a powerful way: God's Angel of Destruction didn't spare the houses where good people lived - nor the houses where the Israelites lived- he spared ONLY the houses where there was blood painted over the doorposts. This was not a salvation by merit, nor a salvation by ethnicity, but a salvation by blood - which points us to the blood of Jesus. Allow me to quote from two Spurgeon sermons on this very topic:

MY own sight of the precious blood is for my comfort; but it is the Lord's sight of it which secures my safety. Even when I am unable to behold it, the Lord looks at it, and passes over me because of it. If I am not so much at ease as I ought to be, because my faith is dim, yet I am equally safe, because the Lord's eye is not dim, and he sees the blood of the great Sacrifice with steady gaze. What a joy is this! The Lord sees the deep inner meaning, the infinite fulness of all that is meant by the death of his dear Son. He sees it with restful memory of justice satisfied, and all his matchless attributes glorified. He beheld creation in its progress, and said, "It is very good"; but what does he say of redemption in its completeness? What does he say of the obedience even unto death of his Well-beloved Son? None can tell his delight in Jesus, his rest in the sweet savour which Jesus presented when he offered himself without spot unto God. Now rest we in calm security. We have God's Sacrifice and God's Word to create in us a sense of perfect security. He will, he must, pass over us, because he spared not our glorious Substitute. Justice joins hands with love to provide everlasting salvation for all the blood-besprinkled ones.

C. H. Spurgeon, The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith: Being Precious Promises Arranged for Daily Use with Brief Comments (New York: American Tract Society, 1893), 36.

"And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt " Exodus 12:13, King James Version

There are some, as we have said, who desire a token/good luck charm of their safety from man, a poor thing when they get it, and not worth asking for; and there are others who desire it from God in the form of a sign or a wonder, or else they will not believe... but God says to all those who desire a token for good, "The blood shall be to you for a token." What more can we desire? All the squadrons of the angelic host could not better assure us if each one brought a message from heaven. The best of all evidences of divine love is the cross. The strongest of all assurances of safety, the surest of all pledges of favour, the best token of grace that a man can possibly behold is the sprinkled blood, by which he is cleansed from sin. "The blood shall be to you for a token."

Before we dive into this subject, let us notice that the blood which was a token to God's people was not merely that which had been shed by the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb, but blood which had been caught in a basin, had been taken by the person at the head of the household in his own hand, and recognised as poured out for him. Then the branch of hyssop was laid to soak in the basin, and afterwards the blood was sprinkled upon the lintel and the door-posts; this blood thus appropriated was the token. By... faith we must take Christ to be ours; we must, in a word, believe in the atonement which he has made, for an atonement which is not believed in is no atonement to us. Our Lord Jesus laid down his life for us, but he that does not believe in him shall by no means partake of any of the blessings of his death.

The sprinkled blood preserved the houses of the Israelites; and it is the blood of Jesus accepted by us, relied upon, and applied to our consciences which delivers us from death. This sprinkling, moreover, was done in a very public manner; they stained the frame and the two side posts, so that every passer-by might see it, yes, and must see it. So salvation is premised not alone to believing, but to confession with the mouth. "He that with his heart believeth, and with his mouth makes confession of him shall be saved;" and so the grand commission at the end of the gospel of Mark puts it, not "he that believeth shall be saved," but "he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved;" for if we believe in Christ we must not be ashamed of him. Shame about faith would argue insincerity of faith. True faith in the Saviour is so potent a principle of our lives that it must be seen whether we publish it or not, and we must be willing that it should be seen: yes, this should be the most visible point in our lives, our glory and our delight, that we do indeed believe in the Saviour Jesus Christ.

Oh that every one of you, my dear hearers, used the cross for its proper purpose! I grieve that any among you should need me to ask you—The Lamb is slain but you have never caught the blood, you have never sprinkled it with the hyssop branch of faith, and consequently you are not saved. Oh that each one of you could say, "My faith is resting in the substitutionary work of Jesus."

C. H. Spurgeon, "The Sacred Love-Token," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 21 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1875), 481–482. slightly modernized.

Happy Leap Year, Friends! Today is the rarest day in our calendar, with the one exception being the legendary February 30th that sometimes shows up on milk carton expiration dates. Because the Robert Murray M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan that we are following does not include February 29th (or February 30th, for that matter) we could have had a free day today, but that wouldn't be seemly. The pod must go on! Today's Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15 - the resurrection chapter. Let's read it and then come back and discuss some reasons to believe in the resurrection and some reasons to believe in the reliability of the Bible. For more reasons to believe:

Easter Fact or Fiction - 20 Reasons to Believe Jesus Factually Rose From the Dead Book

Jesus Defeated Death - How Can We Know For Sure?! (Episode 44)

What Was The Central Event of Christianity? (Episode 17)

"So if you were going to make up a story about the resurrected Jesus Christ, you would never make up a story like this. You might have some luminescent, radiant Jesus bursting through the doors and everyone shielding their eyes, but instead what do you have? Would you, if you were making up a story do this? He just appears in their midst and says, "Do you have anything to eat?" Look how magnificent. Look what a faith-building experience. "And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it." Seriously, if you were making up a story about the resurrected Jesus, you just wouldn't say things like this. Why would this be there? How mundane. How odd. How completely uninspiring. Why would that be there? The only right answer is, if you're reading literature, it must have happened. Why else would you put it in? Legends are not like this."

Pastor Tim Keller - Sermon, Redeemer New York.

One of the oddest things about the resurrection accounts in all four gospels is their obvious lack of drama and embellishment. As Dr. Keller points out, Jesus just kind of appears in the midst of the disciples. They do cower, thinking he is a ghost, but after getting their courage back, Jesus quite anticlimactically asks for some boiled fish. If Hollywood had scripted the resurrection, Jesus would have come back in a blaze of glory, surrounded by a fiery glow. Thomas, upon expressing doubts, would have either been divinely smited down, or, Jesus would have answered his doubts with such a perfect put-down, that the disciples would have spent the rest of their lives reminding him how he'd been put in his place by the master. After Jesus met with the disciples, He would have flown off and utterly wiped the floor with Pilate and Herod…maybe even Caesar over in Rome. It would have been a blaze of glory and revenge, and every bad guy would have learned their lesson the hard way.

When all was said and done, Jesus would have rocketed back up to Heaven with an amazing display of light and sound. Jesus is back…and this time, it's personal. That's what would have happened if the resurrection of Jesus had been mythically embellished or fabricated, or exaggerated or invented. There would have been more drama – more comeuppance for the bad guys, and more adoration for Jesus.

Instead, He ate some fish. He had a discussion with Peter about John. He broke bread with Cleopas and another guy walking on the Emmaus road. Other than the coming back from the dead part…it just seems kind of mundane, doesn't it? Even the ascension into Heaven is downplayed in the Gospels and Acts. Think about it: JESUS FLOATED UP INTO HEAVEN! How amazing that must have been to see, and yet Luke (who describes the ascension in the greatest detail) merely writes this, "51 And while He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven. 52 After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy." (Luke 24:51-52)

Matthew and John don't even write about the ascension, and when Luke revisits it in Acts, all he adds is a small little detail about the disciples view of Jesus being blocked by a cloud, and the appearance of two guys (angels?) in white clothes who chide the disciples for looking up at the sky. Any writer – even a mediocre one – could have made that scene sound AMAZING, and could have done so without embellishing or exaggerating even a little bit! And yet, they didn't…the drama was kept to an absolute minimum.

I propose that this is a signifier of real historical testimony, and the trustworthiness and sobriety of the Gospel writers. They didn't have to add to the story. They didn't have to stir up drama. They just told it like it happened, and even seemingly downplayed some of the more amazing things. Upon His return, Jesus appeared to the women first, and His brother and Peter and 500 other believers. None of them seem to be particularly important! Why not Herod? Why not Pilate? Why didn't Jesus seek revenge on His executioners? Maybe organize a beat down of the Roman soldiers who had flogged Him? Alternatively, why didn't He meet with somebody important like Joseph of Arimathea, or the high priest? Wouldn't it have been great to have seen Caiaphas' face when Jesus returned? Wouldn't that have been a better story? And yet, none of that happened. Instead, what we get is narrative that does not exaggerate nor embellish, and is therefore all the more reliable because of it.

Every now and then, I get a bit of a wild hair and promote a Bible Reading Podcast post on Facebook. Please like the Bible Reading Facebook page on Facebook, by the way! Recently, I promoted a post that really brought out some trolls with some interesting swears and anti-Christian memes. No problem there. Also some people came out with some reasons NOT to believe in Jesus. Usually when I hear those, they are quite erroneous, but some folks had some decent responses, so I'd like to share a little bit of the dialog that we had.

Lawrence Bible Reading Podcast No Roman historian had actually met Jesus. Elastic stretches and truth ceases to be truth once it is retold. None of the stories in the bible were recorded by anyone who was there at the time that the bible claims that they allegedly happened. The bible stories were written by people without first hand eyewitness account centuries after they were supposed to have happened. I have heard people refer to this as mythology

Bible Reading Podcast Lawrence - This is, quite frankly, an absurd argument to make. Why would a Roman historian journey to Israel to meet a Jewish man who - according to the Bible - stayed the entirety of His ministry inside a country that is about 1/3 the size of Scotland? There would be no reason in the world for such a thing to happen. #2 There are exactly THREE Roman historians of any significance that were writing during the time of Jesus' active ministry. Were you aware of this? Here they are:

#1 Seneca the Elder. He died in A.D. 39. He wrote a history of Rome, but it is almost entirely lost to history, as are MANY of the books and writings of the first century due to age, disintegration, intentional destruction and events like the fires at the libraries of Antioch and Serapeum.

#2 Claudius the emperor - He died in A.D. 49. He wrote copiously - an 8 volume history of Carthage and a 20 volume history of the Etruscans. ALL OF HIS WORKS ARE LOST. Did he write about Jesus? I suppose it is possible, but highly unlikely that you would write about Jesus in a history of Carthage and the Etruscans.

#3 Marcus Cluvius Rufus - He was a Roman historian and statesmen who wrote during the first century. ALL OF HIS WORKS ARE LOST TO HISTORY.

So, Lawrence - given that we have THREE Roman historians writing during the time of Jesus, and given the fact that almost 100 percent of their historical works are LOST to history - what conclusions can we draw from this? That's correct - no conclusions whatsoever. Later Roman historians wrote extensively about Jesus. They possibly did during His lifetime too - Or not! - but we have no idea either way.

As to the second half of your paragraph - you are again making wild claims without the least bit of evidence backing them up. The New Testament accounts claim to be first hand. They are very early, and there are thousands of Greek manuscripts that back up the claim that they are very early. Were they written in the first century by eyewitnesses? I believe they absolutely were, but I cannot prove that beyond a shadow of doubt. (how could you, really?) I believe the preponderance of evidence over the years indicate they were. There is absolutely ZERO proof - ZERO! That the New Testament accounts were NOT written in the first century by eyewitnesses. Not every scholar agrees on that one way or the other, but there is no evidence - historical, paleographical, or linguistic that indicates that the New Testament accounts were anything other than what they claim to be.

Bible Reading Podcast Philip Basically what you are saying, Philip is that you don't trust the reports of the eyewitnesses that were on site for the ministry of Jesus, and that you would only trust the reports of historians that were hundreds of miles away - in their own country - and who's works are lost to history. For a geography refresher, it is worth noting that the distance from Rome to Jerusalem is over 3,500 kilometers. The length of the entire nation of Israel is around 400 kilometers, for perspective.

In other words, your skepticism is completely without basis. The four Gospels are eyewitness accounts written by people who lived in the land where the events occurred and lived during the time the events occurred. I suspect the only reason you reject them as reliable is because you don't like their conclusions.

Also on your Josephus contention - you are way outside the bounds of modern critical Bible scholarship. I'm not talking about Christian scholars, but scholars of antiquity. There are at least two mentions of Jesus in Josephus. The first and most extensive may indeed be an interpolation, but that has not been 'proved,' as you say. It is quite the matter of debate, though the consensus is that it is indeed an interpolation. The modern scholarly consensus is also that the interpolation was laid on top of an authentic passage about Jesus - just one that was added to by later Christian scholars. The other major mention of Jesus in Josephus is doubted by very few scholars, and almost all of them believe it to be genuine. So the overwhelming consensus of modern critical scholars is that Josephus wrote about Jesus.

It is fine if you want to be a skeptic, but you need to know that the vast majority of the skepticism that you have expressed in this post is actually based on faulty historiography, and skeptical theories that most modern scholars dismiss.

In an era that lacked internet, telegraph, television and newspapers, the news about Jesus - who spent his entire life in a country 1/3rd the size of Scotland - travelled slowly and organically, but it did indeed reach and transform the ENTIRE Roman Empire. Nobody doubts that fact. A question for you to grapple with in your skepticism is this: How did the testimony and message of Jesus take hold of and transform the entire Roman Empire?? Lest you just assume that they were morons who would believe anything, it might be worth remembering that, historically, many people of this time claimed to be gods, including many of the Roman emperors. How did their message not transform the world, while the message of Jesus did? You can't explain it by money, power, ethnicity, clever strategy or really any other way. Something has to explain the power of the message of Jesus. I believe the explanation is the Resurrection and the Holy Spirit. How do you explain it?

One other note - given what you have written so far, I suspect you have a great respect for Roman historians. One of the earliest Roman historians we have surviving works from is Pliny the Younger. He wrote about Christians in the early second century. However, in terms of manuscripts, we have only ONE portion of Pliny's writing that dates to earlier than the 9th century, and it is from the late 5th century - hundreds of years after the events that Pliny records. Historians don't have a problem with this at all, considering we actually have a total of ZERO manuscripts from Greek historians or Roman historians that date to the first century on ANY subject. Pliny the younger's historical records are considered quite reliable, despite the paucity of manuscript evidence to document their connection to the second century. There are many Greek New Testament fragments and manuscripts of the Bible that date MUCH earlier than the oldest surviving Pliny the Younger manuscript. There are old Latin ones, and Coptic ones as well - all scattered across the Middle East. The sheer volume of extant and old New Testament manuscripts dwarf any other ancient document from Greece or Rome. This should demonstrate some level of remarkable reliability to all but the most hardened skeptic.

If your skepticism doesn't stand up to evidence that seems to disprove it, is it really intellectually honest or just an unwillingness to believe despite significant evidence to the contrary?

Hooray - we made it to Friday! Today we are only reading three chapters. Why? Because Robert Murray M'Cheyne's original Bible reading plan was designed for a non leap year, so we have some freedom here to be creative. We'll read Exodus 11 today (the tenth plague death of the firstborn) plus Job 29 and Luke 14. Rather than continue on in reading 1st Corinthians, we will continue on in discussing 1st Corinthians 14 from yesterday. Tomorrow, on the 29th, we will only read 1st Corinthians 15 - the resurrection chapter, and we will be focused on the resurrection. Today is the day we finish up our discussion of spiritual gifts.

Every saved Christian in the church is important, necessary, and dependent on the others. We cannot live without each other! The pastor cannot say to the evangelist, "we don't need you, our members can just invite other people and we can grow that way!" Likewise, the teacher cannot say to the faith-gifted person, "We don't need your faith, we just need to teach the Word of God more!" I've illustrated this truth before with a strange saying: There are no Supermen in the Body of Christ – And no Aquamen either. You see, when I was a kid, the one cartoon that everybody watched was the Super Friends, that lovely cartoon about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin, Apache Chief, Samurai, Zan and Jayna, Black Vulcan and even good old El Dorado:

El Dorado could not talk to fish.

In saying that there are no Supermen in the Body of Christ, I mean that nobody has all of the gifts in one package, and nobody is like Superman in that he/she is a one man army – fast, strong, invulnerable, and not needing of anybody else. The list of powers given to Superman in the comic books are absolutely ridiculous. Super-strength. Super speed. Super breath. Heat vision. Time travel. Faster than light-speed flight, Extended life-span. Healing Factor. Eidetic Memory. Superhuman hearing AND smell. X-Ray Vision. Mind control. Invulnerability. RAINBOW BEAMS FROM HIS HANDS.

Superman's only real weakness is that he got sick around one particular meteorite from a world light-years away (that didn't exist anymore.) I don't know about you, but I have very rarely encountered meteorites in my day to day life, and if that was my only weakness, I could go years and years without encountering it. There's nobody in the Body of Christ like Superman – all the powers and no weaknesses, and no real need for other teammates.

I once had a book by a fairly well known church leader that had words to this effect on the back, "Dr. XXXXX is a Prophet-Apostle who functions as a pastor and evangelist in the Body of Christ. He has been a teacher for xx years" Honestly – I'm not so sure that is all true! That sounds like several major equipping gifts functioning in the same person. Such a gifted person could very well be a one man show that could do all of the major work of ministry while everybody else merely watched. The problem with that scenario is that the church is not meant to be an elite collection of professionals who do the work of ministry, and every one else just simply watches and cleans up after the service. I do NOT believe that this is what Paul means in his description of the function of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. All gifts are needed, all roles are needed, and nobody has been called to be the one-man-army of ministry that does all the visible work. There are no Supermen in the Body of Christ.

Likewise, there are no Aquamen in the Body of Christ either. By that, I mean that nobody has a lame, useless gift that doesn't strengthen the church. Now, don't hear me throwing a lot of shade in Aquaman's direction. Other than Superman, Aquaman was actually my favorite of the Super Friends. In fact, due to my love of swimming and snorkeling as a teenager, several of my friends actually dubbed me "Aquaman." That said, Aquaman has been parodied many times as having powers that aren't particularly conducive to fighting crime. Despite the fact that most of our planet is covered by water, the vast majority of crime and super-villainary actually takes place on land. Being able to communicate with sea life is rarely useful on land, a fact famously lampooned by the Cartoon Network years ago in a commercial where Wonder Woman and Aquaman are captured by the Legion of Doom. As they are being lowered into a boiling cauldron of acid, Aquaman attempts to use his powers to free them, and then very soberly tells Wonder Woman that his "ability to talk to fish isn't helping!" Wonder Woman just rolls her eyes, as the audience gets the unspoken joke: Aquaman is mostly useless as a Super Friend. NOT so in the church. As Paul explains, even gifts that aren't obvious or prominent are actually essential to the Body of Christ. Indeed those giftings (and the people who have them) might even be due "greater honor" than those with more prominent gifts. Everybody in the Body of Christ is needed and absolutely essential to the successful and joyful completion of God's great mission to His Church: To love Him with all of our heart and to take His Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Dear Christian: You need to work in tandem with other members of the Body of Christ. You are not a spiritual Superman that can "take the team on your back" and lead everybody to victory. On the other hand, you are also not a useless Aquaman that has no real impact on the Body of Christ that you are part of. You are a core member of the Body of Christ – no matter what your spiritual gift is. Whatever Christian fellowship or group that you are part of desperately needs you, and you need them – join with them, and serve God together with joy, power and fruitfulness!

1 Corinthians 14:26, "What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church"

8. Spiritual gifts cannot be neglected, lest they become dormant. I find it fascinating that somebody that was as fruitful as Timothy would require not one, but two reminders in Scripture to fan his gifting into flame, and not let it lie dormant. Keep in mind that he was on Paul's apostolic team, a church planter, probably a pastor, possibly an apostle, and co-author of more biblical books than anybody save Paul himself. If Timothy needed those kinds of reminders, then how much more do we? Don't let your gift lie dormant – fan it into flames!

2 Timothy 1:6-7, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

9. The variety of spiritual gifts given, and the variety of roles that gifted people will have, are meant to bring UNITY (in diversity) to the Body of Christ, not disunity. The way forward to unity, real unity in the Body of Christ/church, is kind of interesting. Rather than God making all of His people similar, with similar passions, roles and giftings, He has instead purposed to fit the body together with remarkable diversity and differences; and He has done so with the intention that there be NO DIVISION IN THE BODY. Yes, we are different! Different passions, different gifts, different callings – but that should not separate us – we should be so unified that when one of us suffers, we all suffer, and when one of us is honored, then we all rejoice. Gifts of the Spirit aren't meant to divide, but to unite!

1 Corinthians 14:24-26, "Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, So that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."

10. One can apparently be remarkably gifted in terms of spiritual gifts, but not be at all mature or loving. Such a person should not be praised, emulated or followed due to the dynamism and strength of their gifting – they are NOTHING. Let me say again – a person can be remarkably gifted as a pastor, or teacher, or prophet, or evangelist, or televangelist, and the fact that they are strongly gifted does not mean that they are to be imitated and followed. Spiritual fruit (see Galatians 5) is a much more reliable indicator of maturity than spiritual gifts. Moreover, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 that one can be very gifted – with some of the highest or most spiritual seeming gifts, but if they aren't manifesting obvious love, then they are of no count in the Body of Christ – they are nothing! I believe that one of the reasons why the Western church has seen so much scandal in the past fifty years is because we have elevated strongly gifted people to prominent (and unaccountable) positions of leadership, but we have not rightly evaluated the maturity or love level of those people to discern whether or not they should be in such places of leadership.

1 Corinthians 13:2 "And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

I will close with one more big chunk of Scripture. I believe that 1 Corinthians 14:26-31 MIGHT be the clearest and deepest picture we have of the powerful, fresh, first century gathering of believers – one of the most detailed descriptions of a church gathering in the Bible. Note that Paul is upholding an ideal here – this is, I believe, what we are to look like when we gather. We don't look like this. Indeed, I don't believe I know of any gathering of Christians in America that does, but this is the picture of the first century church, given to us in Scripture, that I believe we are supposed to seek to attain:

1 Corinthians 14:26-31, "26 What then is the conclusion, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, another language, or an interpretation. All things must be done for edification. 27 If any person speaks in another language, there should be only two, or at the most three, each in turn, and someone must interpret.28 But if there is no interpreter, that person should keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate. 30 But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged. 32 And the prophets' spirits are under the control of the prophets, 33 since God is not a God of disorder but of peace."

Happy Thursday, Friends! SHARE/REVIEW. Today's Bible passages kick off with two terrible plagues in Exodus 10: Locusts and Darkness. Pharaoh's grip is certainly loosening on the Israelites! Job 28 is an interesting passage, and serves as a meditation on wisdom - probably written/spoken by Job. It ends with this incredible paragraph, and it is worth reading it twice today:

Where then does wisdom come from, and where is understanding located? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the sky. 22 Abaddon and Death say, "We have heard news of it with our ears." 23 But God understands the way to wisdom, and he knows its location. 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 When God fixed the weight of the wind and distributed the water by measure, 26 when he established a limit for the rain and a path for the lightning, 27 he considered wisdom and evaluated it; he established it and examined it. 28 He said to mankind, "The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding."

Job 28:20-28

In Luke 13 Jesus answers a very modern question about those who are victims of 'natural disasters' and other calamities. Do they generally happen to people because they are more sinful? I tell you no, says the Master, but unless we repent, we will also perish. We continue our mini-series on spiritual gifts today, based on our focus passage of 1st Corinthians 14. Our big question of the day is about whether the modern Western church is too pastor-centered or not. We will also be discussing several basic and biblical truths about spiritual gifts.

Before we dive into that, I'd like to share a story, then our 1st Corinthians passage. This story is a throwback to an earlier discussion we had on this show when reading about Joseph: Does God still speak in Dreams and Visions? Today I had the privilege of having lunch with a pastor friend from Mexico, who currently helps leader our ministry network here in the Central Coast of California area. My brother is a Southern Baptist, and has been for decades. He told me about a pair of visits he made to Saudi Arabia while working for a job with a large logistics company when he was a bi-vocational pastor. While in Saudi-Arabia, he would read Christian books in the lunch room, and some of the Saudi workers at his company would come and talk to him about Jesus, and he would share the gospel with them. (Not realizing that such activity is illegal in Saudi Arabia.) One of the workers in the factory heard the gospel and had a dream later that week in which Jesus came to him in a white robe. That man was gloriously saved that week, and told my pastor friend about it. My friend went home, but was almost immediately summoned back to Saudi Arabia within a day or two. Upon returning, one of the head bosses pulls him into a conversation about the worker that got saved. My friend thought he was in trouble, but it turns out that this boss had also had a dream about Jesus in a pure white robe, and he wanted to know more about Jesus and the gospel. He too believed and was gloriously saved, and those two are seeing other people in the company become saved as well. So - does God still speak in dreams and visions? According to my Southern Baptist brother...yes He does! Let's read 1 Corinthians 14 together.

4. We are commanded in Scripture to eagerly/earnestly desire spiritual gifts, both as a group, and individually. This is especially true of the gift of prophecy: 1 Cor. 12:31-29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. AND: 1 Cor 14:1 1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. AND: 1 Corinthians 14:39,"Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other languages."

5. We are ALL supposed to USE our Spiritual gifts – they aren't supposed to lie dormant. 1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." AND ROMANS 12:6 "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith." I note here that this command applies to ALL believers, at the very least, all believers who actually know what gift they have been given. This would seem to mean that one MUST use whatever gift they have regardless of opportunity or role in a fellowship. This is a tricky concept. In most churches, only about twenty percent (or less) of the people are actually actively serving in areas that line up well with their spiritual gifts. Often this is the fault of the leadership – the pastors, elders, deacons, etc. The buck must stop with them. When I read 1 Corinthians 12-14, and Romans 12, and Ephesians 4, I see the Body of Christ/church depicted as a group where multiple people speak, sing, teach, prophesy, exhort, encourage, etc.

Yet in the Western church, we have this artificial, wholly unbiblical division between "lay people" and "clergy." With the "clergy" or professional ministers/pastors doing the vast majority of the ministry work. I myself serve as the "senior pastor" of a fellowship (not a biblical title…) and I decry the concept of a division between "lay people" and "clergy." Indeed, I believe it is one of the weakest parts of the Western church. Yes – the Bible calls for leadership in the Body of Christ, but all are called to minister to each other and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so. There is not a special class of people in the church called to minister, and everybody else serves menially and watches. We are all called to minister, and church leaders MUST make room for all saved believers to minister in ways that the Holy Spirit has gifted them to. As well, those that are not in church leadership, but are saved by Jesus, need to realize and rejoice in the fact that they have been gifted by God to edify and encourage other believers, and they MUST use their gifts for that role.

6. When we serve with our Spiritual gifts, the fellowship/congregation (us) will grow. This appears to mean growth in Spiritual maturity(see below), and in numbers. Eph. 4:16, "16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Ephesians 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible. It is so deep, powerful and beautiful, and shows quite clearly that God has given gifted people to the church in order for the church/Body of Christ to grow in love, to grow in numbers, to grow in encouragement, to grow in strength, and to grow in maturity. As each part of the Body of Christ DOES ITS WORK, the whole Body will be brought to maturity and growth. Conversely, when even a few parts of the local Body of Christ are not exercising their gifting/doing their work, then there will be immaturity, less love, more discouragement, more weakness, and a decrease in ability to reach the lost and fulfill the Great Commission.

7. Every gift and gifted person is necessary. Stop and think for a moment, and try to name all of the pastors that you know, both local and national, living and dead. If you have been a Christian for any number of years, then I imagine you can name at least two dozen pastors. Some of my favorites are: John Piper, Charles Spurgeon, Tim Keller, Dick Lucas, Matt Chandler, Martyn Lloyd Jones, Mark Dever, Frank Barker, Edwin Jenkins, David Platt, Ron Lotz, David McConnell, Hudson Taylor (who pastored as a missionary), and many others. The funny thing about us knowing so many pastors is that the word "pastor" in the New Testament really only appears ONCE in terms of describing an actual role or office in the church. As well, unless I am misremembering, I don't believe that the New Testament ever identifies a pastor by name, though you could possibly make the case that Timothy was a pastor, maybe Titus as well. The reason I bring that up is that we are in a very pastor-centric state right now in the Western church, but the New Testament itself is not at all pastor-centric. I've always found that odd. As a pastor myself, I'm not offended personally that the church is very pastor-centric, but I am offended biblically speaking. We are pastor-teacher heavy! Paul takes careful pains to disabuse the Corinthian church of the notion that only some giftings are necessary or highly spiritual. In fact, he warns them to consider every gift "NECESSARY." Necessary is a strong word. You can't live without necessary things, and Paul clearly outlines in 1 Corinthians 12:20-22 that ALL of the gifts – even ones that might not seem important, or might seem odd – are necessary. We all need each other – we all need every gift that the Holy Spirit chooses to distribute in a particular fellowship at a particular time.

This particular foundational truth is a big deal to me. At the church I am privileged to pastor at, we have a saying that helps define us, "Everybody plays ball." It is one of my life statements, and, I believe one of the clearest teachings of Scripture that the modern church often misses. I realize that it is a sports analogy, but what is meant here is that every saved Christian has a gift that is CRUCIAL and NECESSARY and even INDISPENSABLE to the Body of Christ. Everybody gets to participate and use their spiritual gift. Everybody gets to have the joy of being used by God to build up His people. Everybody gets to be on the great adventure of ministry. There are NO benchwarmers in the Body of Christ – everybody plays ball!

"So the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body," in spite of this it still belongs to the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body," in spite of this it still belongs to the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. 19 And if they were all the same part, where would the body be?20 Now there are many parts, yet one body.21 So the eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" Or again, the head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22 But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary."

1 Corinthians 12:20-22