Have you ever thought about what the world would be like today if Jesus were never born? We have probably all seen the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, where George Bailey is shown by the angel Clarence what the world would be like without him. It turned out that George Bailey, as ordinary and outwardly unsuccessful as he was, still profoundly affected everyone in his circle and far beyond.

Now imagine a world without Jesus in it. Would there be hospitals? Orphanages? Universities? Would there even be science in the modern sense? What would the literacy rate be? Would our rulers still be considered demigods? Would there be any thought of equality among people? Would there be any objective grounding for justice? Would there be any hope at all for the future? These are just a few questions that immediately come to my mind, but like George Bailey, I’m sure that if we thoroughly examined the impact of a world without Jesus the results would be far more profound - and terrifying.

These are just the everyday effects of the coming of Jesus. I haven’t gotten into the realm of his impact on our spiritual condition yet. So let’s think about that for a moment. First, let’s review our situation. God exists, God is holy, and our destiny does not end at the grave. Therefore, we have a problem. We are not holy, but God is. Our destiny does not end at the grave, it is ultimately determined by God in the final judgment. And since we are not holy our destiny can be nothing but bleak and terrifying.

Thankfully, God loves us. He was not content to leave us to our inevitable fate but personally took action to save us. That action was to send His only son to us. Taking on our humanity so we could know him, learn from him, and balance the scales of justice for us by taking the just penalty for our sins onto Himself. God is not indifferent, he is a loving God who willingly sacrificed to provide a way for us to be restored to Him as His children forever. The son and sacrifice is Jesus. And Jesus is now exalted to the right hand of God enthroned forever as the King of Kings.

Jesus changed everything in heaven and earth through his life, death, and resurrection. The Christmas season is dedicated to remembering where this all began so long ago in Bethlehem.

This Week

As we reflect on the life and promise of Jesus this week, let’s remember his teaching and his example as we wait in hope for his return and the final restoration of this broken world. Join me as we all join together in songs of joy, peace, and hope until that hope becomes reality at the return of the King.

Have a great week!

The manger scene at Christmas is one of my most loved images. Every year we clear off the top of our sideboard to make room for the stable and all the usual (and some unusual) Bethlehem characters. And when we are blessed to have a grandchild or two to help it gets even more entertaining as we set up the “birthday party for Jesus” as our grandkids used to say. But as much as I love thinking about what this must have been like for Mary and Joseph, there is one potential downside to thinking of Jesus as a baby. The downside is that Jesus is no longer a baby. Advent is not the anticipation of a coming baby it is the anticipation of a coming king.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus because that baby is now the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Advent is the season of our anticipation of his return to rule the earth with justice. Advent is the anticipation of all that was promised, long before this baby was born.

Jesus is no longer helpless

Many many years ago as I was preparing to leave on our first missionary trip, I was listening to a young girl give a devotional talk. My expectations for this talk were pretty low because I knew this girl (or so I thought) so I didn’t expect much from this devotional. But God has a funny way of using whoever he wants, however he wants and he used this girl to say something that has stuck with me to this day. She said many things that day but the tagline was always your Jesus is too small. She talked about various fears we have, how they affect our actions, and how at the root of these fears is the belief that we have a small and fragile Jesus that might break or fail if we do not carefully protect him.

A weak Jesus might fail us in temptation, and a baby Jesus might be crushed by opposing viewpoints. So, the question for us is twofold: Is Jesus the King of kings, and do we believe that? Failing either of these two questions brings about all the worst in us. If we have any doubt that Jesus is the king of the universe we may get defensive and even violent as we try to protect him. But the King of the Universe does not need our protection; since He has already defeated death and the devil, He can’t be harmed by lies or slander. The truth will always win. The truth has already won. Lies are just noise now. Lies are a noise we must learn to ignore as we put our full trust in the truth. Remember, Jesus is the truth (and also the way and the life).

The fear of a breakable Jesus can also make us timid. If we are unsure about Jesus then the things people say about Jesus disturb us and shake our faith. We lose confidence in the truth and compromise out of the fear of our neighbors. We begin to “go along to get along” because we are just not sure that our tiny fragile Jesus can hold up to the world’s criticism.

Jesus and his gospel are unstoppable. If we truly believe that, we do not have to be fearful or defensive. In Jesus, we have already won no matter what the world wants to do. The only loss to concern ourselves with now is the unnecessary loss of those who have not or will not, believe the truth. We are safe and therefore we can love those who still have not believed from a place of complete safety. The lies of this world will not stand, Jesus always will.

This Week

This week, as we reflect on the Christmas story, let’s not forget that the baby was only the beginning. That baby grew up. He loved us, He gave his life for us, conquered evil, rose from the dead, and is currently ruling and reigning at the right hand of God. We as His followers are in Him strictly by grace, so his victory is our victory. We need not fear as we wait this year, no matter what the world throws at us. The Jesus we trust is no longer tiny and fragile. The Jesus we wait for at Advent is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are complete in Him and eternally safe in His love and power. Let’s close by remembering what Jesus said in the Gospel of John:

"Do not let your hearts be distressed.

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

Have a great week!

Last year as the advent season began I discussed tradition and its value. I reread that article this year as I was thinking about advent and almost re-posted last year’s article. But rather than repeat last years article I want to probe a bit deeper into the idea of tradition and its relationship to faith, hope, and purpose in life.

To destroy tradition is to erase memory, memory requires rehearsal and repetition. If we erase our collective memory we erase our identity. If we lose these things we will steal any sense of history and identity from our children. Tradition is far more important than I ever imagined when I was younger. People are quick to see the flaws in our traditions and history but slow to see it’s value.

Today we see a horrible identity crisis in young people, I don’t want to be simplistic, but I think it is fair to say that this is at least aggravated by the fact that so many children are raised with no sense of history or tradition. Nothing to anchor them and no sense of who they are or where they come from as a people, and therefore no sense of who they are as an individual. This makes them easy prey for the sellers of perverse ideas regarding so called “identity” that are currently flooding the media and education systems.

Last year I discussed my past as a Lutheran farm boy and while I had very few advantages financially I did have love and a rich identity that flowed from a history that informed and anchored everything I did. To some degree this history defines me to this day. Now that my boys are middle aged I have listened to them describe their childhood and it is interesting what stuck with them and what they value even without realizing how much they value it. It’s little things like Saturday pizza and getting the Christmas tree. It’s cookies, Lebkuchen, Stollen and lights.

These things, though small and by themselves completely unimportant, form memories that anchor their childhood and define who we were and who we are as a family and as individuals. Each of my sons had their favorite and least favorite parts of this season and arguing about it with their brothers helped them to understand who we are as a family and who they are as individuals. They are family and they share a common bond, but they are not all the same.

Advent is one of those traditions that is not technically a Biblical mandate or even a teaching, but it is traditionally a time set aside to remember the gift of God to us at Bethlehem. And a time to remember our hope for the future in Jesus. God has come to us in Jesus and advent reminds us of the absolute mystery and wonder of that event. But advent is also a time to remember that he is coming again to bring final justice to all, and eternal life to all that believe. The mess that self-serving human government has made and continues to make, will one day end. Jesus came once many years ago to serve us and give his life for us and he is coming again, this time to to rule forever.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

This week let’s not allow ourselves to be pushed along by the things we call urgent, and carve out some time to reflect on our history and our future. Let’s allow the wonder of God’s gift to a rebellious and sinful people to soak in a bit. It’s time to fight this anchorless culture and establish a culture and a tradition of remembrance, honor, and hope in Jesus. Start a new tradition or reestablish an old one. Let’s help each other remember that there is real hope for the future in Jesus.

Have a great week!

It seems to me that there are many things that I worry about far too much. But at the same time, there are a few things that I don’t worry about nearly enough. Today, I want to look at a couple of passages that should probably worry us all more than they do.

As I look through the New Testament, I see a few evils that are singled out and condemned very harshly. Before I begin, I want to make it clear that God’s grace not only forgives us for these evils but gives us the ability through our new creation in Christ to overcome them. I say this because we are about to look at some very strong language, some from Jesus and some from his brother James, and I don’t want anybody to feel overwhelmed and condemned.

The particular evil we will be looking at today is the harm we can do through our speech. Let’s begin with James 3:

... we all stumble in many ways.

Here, James describes the devastation caused by the malicious or even the careless use of our tongues. He describes the tongue as a deadly poison and a fire that shapes the direction of our entire lives, the source (and it seems the destination) of which is hell. It is, according to James, an untameable evil, but thankfully, that is not the whole story. James goes on to say in the rest of the chapter that there is another source: There is a wisdom that comes from above that is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy.

To James, it all comes down to sources. Some words and deeds flow from jealousy and selfish ambition, while others flow from divine wisdom. The good news is that we can now, in Christ, do what we could not do before. The bad news is that our natural heart or natural inclinations are still with us, and they are still not good.

Jesus said it this way:

10 And he called the people to him and said to them,

We have been given a new heart. But as long as we are in this body, our old heart is never far away. As believers, we must choose: will we live according to our new life in Christ or continue to follow our old fallen heart? Through the Spirit of God, we now have a real choice. We are no longer slaves to sin because we have been set free through the death and resurrection of Christ.

For the Americans reading this, we just celebrated Thanksgiving Day, and as Christians, we have a lot to be thankful for. We can be grateful that we are not alone in this. We have hope. Jesus has set us free from the tyranny of our old, fallen hearts. And that is a very good thing because the last passage I want to examine is the harshest one so far. I’m not sure I have ever heard a sermon on this one, in fact, but from the wording, it seems pretty important.

I tell you that on the day of judgment,

Here, Jesus is explaining that our words really do matter. They can heal and hurt, and their effects carry forward into eternity.

This Week

This is a somewhat overwhelming selection of passages this week, and there is a lot to think about here. But I don’t want to look at this, throw my hands up, and walk away because I don’t know what to do with it. There is a way forward. God has not put an impossible task before us without giving us the grace to do it.

This week, I want to start small. By God’s grace, I can do things today that I failed to do in the past. I can use my tongue for what it was intended for today. Paul gives us a first step with this advice in Ephesians:

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

This week I will work to speak only those things that build up others rather than tear them down. I want to speak life to people, not death. Individually, these are small and doable steps, but jealousy and selfish ambition have to go to make this happen.

Since this has been a kind of heavy day, I would like to end with some encouragement that Paul gave to the Philippian church:

Rejoice in the Lord always;

I can’t add anything to that except to say busting stuff is easy, and building stuff is hard, but building others up is worth the effort. Remember, “The Lord is near!”.

Have a great week!

The title of this article is a bit provocative, I confess, but the really scary thing about it is that I think it is sometimes much more accurate than it should be. At some point, we have probably all been guilty of this sort of thing. Let me explain.

First, some definitions: witchcraft is using magical spells or rites to coerce beings in the spirit world to help you. It is trying to manipulate the spiritual world to your own advantage.

Can a Christian do this? Well, obviously, a Christian could fully engage in this sort of thing by rebelling against the faith and seeking help from evil spirits, but this is not what I am talking about today.

Jesus once asked his disciples, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” and even more sobering, he once described judgment in this way,  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”.

I put these two quotes together because I think it helps us to understand these hard sayings of Jesus. And it is helpful in understanding the attitudes and behaviors I am talking about today. The difference between prayer and witchcraft comes down to one simple question.

Who is serving whom?

When we pray, are we trying to coerce God into obeying our will? Or are we submitting ourselves to God and praying according to His will? Are we asking as loving children in need? Or are we spoiled children stomping our feet and demanding our way? Do we try to make deals with God? Do we throw His words back in His face and demand action? Do we think we know better than God? Do we believe that He has our eternal best interests in mind? Or do we think like the wicked servant in Matthew 25 saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’. Do we really believe that God is good? Do we act like His faithful servants? Or do we approach God, prayer, and our religious service as a means to coerce Him to satisfy our desires?

So what is Prayer?

Is prayer a conversation where God does what we ask? Is prayer a conversation where our desires become more aligned with God’s desires? Does prayer change God’s mind? Can God change His mind? Should we ever even ask God to change His mind? As I look at the scriptures, I think a case can be made for all of these perspectives, including times when it appears that prayer actually changed God’s intentions for a situation. So it turns out that a simple question like, “What is prayer?” is in many ways a very difficult question to answer definitively and, theologically at least, turns out to be anything but simple.

But in a way, the question of prayer can be childishly simple if you approach prayer with the heart of a loving child and that of a faithful servant. The difference between prayer and witchcraft really is one of intent. Witchcraft is self-serving, and prayer is centered on the will and wisdom of God. The Bible is full of examples of normal people who ask God things in love and faith, and God responds to them. Whether the answer is yes or no, God does answer prayers. What we need to have is the right heart to ask the right questions and the right heart to hear the answers. And this, in my opinion, is the most important function of prayer, aligning our hearts and our desires with the desires of God.

So, is it wrong to pray for ourselves?

Of course not; there are several lines in the Lord’s Prayer that address our personal needs. Again, it is a question of intent. Our mistake when we pray for ourselves is often one of assuming we know what is best and then demanding God give it to us. Or we may even try to bargain with God to get what we feel we need. The truth is, what’s best for us is that which is eternally best for us. We can’t begin to understand the eternal consequences of our requests, but God can. If we wish to keep our prayer pure, we need to believe that God is good, all the time, and that he desires our eternal good more than we do. With this understanding, we can and should pray for our needs and the needs of others and trust that God will give us all that we truly need. But not always what we want at the moment.

This week

To wrap up, we definitely do not want to think about prayer as a way to bend God’s will to ours, as if God is a reluctant Genie. But we do want to pray, and it is not at all wrong to ask. So, what changes do we want to make to our prayer life this week?

Once again, James has some advice.

You do not have, because you do not ask.

This week, I want to be more deliberate in my prayer. I want to make wisdom my first ask so I can know His will and see clearly to ask in love and faith. Confident that my father in heaven knows what is best and what I truly need, long before I ask. Join me and bring a friend!

Have a great week!

In previous weeks we have been discussing bible interpretation and inductive study. This week I thought it might be useful to give a brief example of how the steps we discussed last week can be used in daily bible study.

Last week I briefly summarized the main steps in studying the bible inductively.

* Discover the background of the book

* Observe what the text is actually saying

* Interpret the text through the eyes of the author and original reader

* Apply the timeless truths of the text to our lives and/or contemporary issues

Step One - Background

The letter to the Romans was written in 57AD by Paul. Under Claudius the Jews were kicked out of Rome, however at the time of this writing Nero had assumed power and presumably allowed the Jews to return. This is confirmed by the fact that in this letter Paul speaks to both Gentile and Jewish believers. Sometimes he speaks to them together and other times he speaks to each group individually. Watch for this as you read Romans, it is a helpful observation to identify Paul progression of thought through this book(letter).

The text for today comes from the beginning of the 12th chapter of Romans and since context is crucial for understanding I will give a two minute summary of the book of Romans so far.

Chapters 1 - 3

Both Gentiles and Jews stand guilty before God each in their own way. Jesus through his sacrifice justifies both Jews and Gentiles through faith.

Chapter 4

Abraham was also justified by faith making him the father of all those that believe, Jew and Gentile alike.

Chapter 5

Through the righteous sacrifice of Jesus, death which was brought into the world by sin ever since Adam, has been overcome.

Chapter 6

Through baptism we are united with Jesus in his death and his resurrection. The power sin and death had over us died with Jesus, and with his resurrection we now also share a new life in Christ which is no longer enslaved to sin and death.

Chapter 7

For the Jewish believer wondering how they can live in a new covenant when they are still bound to the old covenant Paul explains that covenants are only in effect until death. The death they share with Jesus frees them from the old covenant, and his resurrection life frees them to enter into a new covenant by faith.

Chapter 8

Though our flesh may still be weak, through the Spirit of God we are now empowered to live a life that was previously impossible as we wait for the coming of Jesus.

Chapter 9 - 11

God has not abandoned the Jewish people, but rather he has expanded his people to include all believers, Jew and Gentile alike. Paul gives a beautiful illustration in Chapter 11 of a single olive tree with both natural and wild branches all attached through faith.

Chapter 12

This is our current chapter and here Paul begins to make his previous teachings very practical with advice on how to apply his previous teachings.

That is a bit of background and context now let’s move on.

Step 2 Observation

Let’s begin with a simple reading of the text we wish to study.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

Paul begins with a “therefore” which connects this appeal to all the things he has previously taught. In other words, in light of this gospel I am begging you to think about your life like this. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Remember the temple is still standing and sacrifice is still practiced, so this image is a powerful one to the original audience Jew and Gentile alike. A normal sacrifice was death for the sacrifice, it was a one and done process for the sacrificial animal. But our sacrifice is to be a living, ongoing sacrifice of our lives to God. This is acceptable to God and it is the highest worship.

Paul then contrasts being conformed to this world with being transformed by the renewing of our mind. Friendship with this world is not possible it is one or the other as this strong contrast shows, we either think like the world, or we allow the truth of God to transform us. But the transformation is not just in the mind it is tested and realized by our lives. The rest of the sentence tells us, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect”.

Step 3 Interpretation

I think there are at least two important thoughts for the original readers of this text. Their lives were bought back from slavery by the blood of Jesus and therefore they do not own their lives, they belong to God from this day forward.

And the second key takeaway is this: Knowing is not really knowing until it is put into practice and tested. It was not enough to be Jewish or not enough to believe facts about Jesus. True knowledge came from putting the truth into practice. True knowledge was tried and tested knowledge. If they wanted to know the will of God they needed to put what they have learned into practice.

Step 4 Application

In this particular passage the message for today and the message for the original reader is very much the same. While there are questions regarding the Gentile Christians relationship to Judaism are not a particularly hot topic for today’s church, the underlying concepts remain the same. So what are a couple of “timeless truths” from this text?

* Because of the sacrifice of Jesus for us our life is no longer ours to claim. We belong to God and our highest worship is to live everyday as a sacrifice to Him.

* True knowledge is more than information, it can only be realized by putting that information to work in the actual world.

This Week

So how do we personally apply the truths of this passage this week? The final and most important step of bible study is finding a way to apply the truth into our everyday decisions and actions. There is a lot to consider in the short passage we looked at today. What does the understanding that our lives belong to God change about our priorities and plans for this week. Are we even asking the right questions when we wake up in the morning? If we are asking the right questions what are we doing with the answers? Do we live like servants of the Almighty God? Do we submit our will to the will of God?

And how do we know the will of God? Ironically by living out the truth we have learned from the Spirit of God through His word.

So this week let’s set a doable goal. Let’s act on at least one thing we have learned from God and take note of how it changes our life and our understanding of His will for us. This week let’s find at least one concrete way to demonstrate the gospel with our lives. Let’s love in action and allow God to transform our transformed thoughts into transformed actions.

Have a great week!

When I was young I was blessed to know a man named Obed Edom Balken. I used to jump at the chance to ask him questions after church. He was kind and wise and had a twinkle in his eye that made me smile. He was one of those people that made you feel more alive every time you talked to him.

One day in response to one of these questions, (and I don’t even remember the question), he looked at me with that twinkle in his eye and said, “you know, you can fall into the ditch on either side of the road”. This thought got me thinking about the role of balance in biblical interpretation. It is a thought that has guided and helped me ever since as I became a missionary and eventually a bible teacher to young aspiring missionaries.

What is “Interpretation”

I was brought up thinking that interpretation meant, “what does this mean to me?”. But that definition gets the cart before the horse in a serious way. Bible study ends with me it does not begin with me. It begins with the people it was originally written to. If we want to understand the bible the first thing we need to do is get our own interests out of the center of our focus.

I have been teaching an inductive bible study method for over twenty years now and the process has permanently changed the way I read the bible, even in my private devotions. At the core of this method are the following three steps.

* Observation

* This is reading the text carefully and making sure you understand what the words are actually saying.

* Interpretation

* This is not what it means to me but what it meant when it was written. What the author intended and what the original readers would have thought.

* Application

* This distills the timeless truths from the interpretation and applies those truths to our current situation and culture.

Each of these principles can be expanded on to no end so obviously I can’t get into all the details today. Talking about method might make bible reading sound academic and dull. But today I want to stress that reading the bible with understanding is not some ivory tower goal that can never be reached by mere mortals. The bible was written to regular people with the assumption that they would understand what the author was saying. So with a bit of background information as we discussed in the last podcast regular people today can accurately interpret and apply these books. But more than that, the inspired word of God transforms, encourages, corrects, guides, and inspires us then and now. In fact, at no time in history have so many people had as much access to the scriptures as we do now. Around the world the bible is reaching into peoples and cultures of every language. What is lacking at this point is not so much access to the scriptures, at least not for the majority of the world. What is lacking are the skills required to read and understand those scriptures. This has been and still is the need that motivates me to keep going, helping people learn to read, understand, and enjoy the scriptures.

How do we know we are right in our interpretations?

In a word, humility. But in practice, it is a little more involved. To begin what do we mean by “right”? The “right” interpretation is the authors intended interpretation. So what did it mean when it was written is really the key question when you are discussing interpretation. Once that is done you can “apply” that truth to our situation today. But here is where things often go wrong.

We often run into the ditch of feeling right but failing to apply what we have learned, or we fall into the other ditch of becoming so convinced of our rightness that we become for all practical purposes unteachable, either by God or by others. We confuse knowing the truth with living the truth. We seek answers to difficult questions just for the satisfaction of knowing the right answer, but too often refuse to let the truth change us. Does the truth change our behavior?

As I have studied and taught over the years I have become convinced that it is not the parts of the bible we don’t understand that should bother us the most, it is the parts of the bible that we do understand that should really bother us. It is the truth we know that should drive us and shape our lives - everyday. Obeying the truth will lead us to more truth. (Seek and you will find) Disregarding the truth we know will harden our hearts and make us unresponsive to God and His word. (The Pharisees never learned anything from Jesus, neither did those that simply went home when the show was over.)

This Week

So what are we going to do this week that we were not doing last week? This week let’s be more intentional about our bible reading. If you don’t have a reading buddy think about finding one, someone to talk with about what you are reading and what you are learning. And this week let’s try reading in the four step method that we have described so far.

* Read in a study bible or online and get some background on the book you are reading. Find out who wrote it and when they wrote it. Try to understand why they wrote it and what the problem was that they were writing into. Try to understand those original readers of this text and try to discern what their questions were.

* Read the text carefully watching for repeated words and ideas, looking for comparisons and contrasts, and watch for any purpose or summary statements made by the author. Read the text with a “blank slate attitude” don’t read your questions and conclusions into it, but rather let the text speak to its own issues and in its own voice. Remember these are ancient texts from a very different culture. Their questions were not our questions. Their questions must always come first. That takes us to the next step

* Ask yourself what those original readers would have heard in this text. Ask yourself, “what did the author want his readers to do?” or “what question does this answer for the original reader?”. And when all that is done you can finally ask the question, “what is the timeless truth that is being taught in this text?”. What remains true regardless of time, circumstance, or culture?

* What does this truth mean in today’s world? Or, what should I do with this truth today? While it is true that we don’t have the exact questions that the original readers had, the truths taught in answer to their questions are still true today. This last step requires that we find those truths and find ways to express them in our culture today.

These simple steps if taken carefully can open the door to a deeper level of understanding. So get a friend or two or three together and try to read the bible using this approach to interpretation. If you have any questions about this method feel free to ask them in the comments below, you can be sure you are not the only one with questions so don’t be shy.

Have a great week!

We talked last week about the importance of developing your own personal liturgy, a structured time each day set aside for God. And we spoke about the importance of a daily bible reading program of some type to help in the development of this new healthy habit. The point of this newsletter from the beginning was to stay focused on topics that help us walk every day in the Way of Jesus. As a bible teacher I have talked to many people over the years that were either in the process of developing a bible reading plan or discussing why they have failed to do so in the past.

So this week I would like to discuss some practical ideas for how to read the bible in a way that is enjoyable, helpful, and sustainable.

What is the Bible?

I am going to start at the beginning today. The bible is not a book it is a collection of books, it is really a library of ancient books translated into modern languages. This may seem pretty obvious when you think about it for a minute but these facts are tremendously important to remember when you are reading your bible.

* This is a collection not one book.

* They are truly ancient documents from cultures very different from our own.

* They have all been translated in modern language, even the King James English is very modern compared to the original. The originals were in Hebrew and Greek.

* Finally these books are not all the same type of literature. There are poems, songs, narratives, law, biography, letters, prophecy, visions, and parables.

The last point is very important for the modern reader, because you do not read law in the same way you read a poem. And you don’t read a poem the way you read a letter. And you don’t read prophecy and visions the way you read a biography. So, to understand and enjoy reading the bible requires an awareness of what you are reading. Some things are to be read in a literal matter of fact way, others like poetry, parables, and prophecy need to be understood in a much more figurative way. This is by necessity, it’s important to remember:

The right interpretation is the authors intended interpretation. Literal interpretation is only correct if the author intended the reader to take it literally.

This might seem shocking, you might wonder, how can I know what the author intended? Generally speaking it’s not all that hard to know the literature type, and once you know what kind of literature you are reading, the way you read it follows. Of course there are difficult passages in the bible, but generally it’s not that hard to understand what it being said once you understand two things.

* Who is speaking and who the intended reader is. (This includes where, when, and what their situation and perspective was)

* What type of literature is the author using to communicate.

The good news is that some of this kind of information can usually be gathered easily either from the introduction to the book in any good study bible or from a good bible encyclopedia. The more you read about the background of the biblical books the more you will understand and feel what the author is saying.

Context, Context, Context

Once you get a sense of what you are looking at, the next challenge is context. Context can be understood in two main categories. I could talk all day about either one of these categories (and I have on occasion) but to get started I just want you to think about how important context is. Context is how we understand everything, and the bible is certainly no exception.

* Historical Context

* This is the kind of context that is most often neglected. None of the books of the bible were written to us. They are written for us to understand but they were not written to us. The newest of the documents is ancient and you have to always remember that the entire frame of reference of both the author and the original readers is very different than ours. The oldest books are speaking from the perspective of the late Bronze or Early Iron age middle eastern culture. This kind of context can be learned from study bibles and bible dictionaries. You must never forget that although the people in these stories are very relatable they have a very different worldview than we have.

* Literary Context

* This is the “normal” sense of context and includes the immediate setting of the verse or phrase you are reading. But it also includes the broader context of the entire book you are reading. For example, think about how the phrase or verse fits into the larger topics and themes of the book. Consider where the phrase or verse fits into the larger message of the author of the book. Look for the conclusion of the point the author is making and see if he makes any summary statements or draws any conclusions from what he has just said. And this is just scratching the surface.Beyond the immediate context and the context of the book, there is the context of either the New or Old Covenant. And finally there is the overall context of the entire Bible.

Dealing with Figures of Speech and Symbolic Language

Many of my students have been put off by poetry, figures of speech, and Symbolic Language or numbers. They are afraid that if it is not to be understood in a literalistic way then it could mean anything. While I understand this concern, figurative or symbolic does not mean “make believe” nor does it give anyone license to make it mean whatever you want.

Figurative language and symbols are understood in the same way that all words are understood. By Context and Common Usage.

You see every word is a symbol, it is a symbol with an agreed upon meaning. This meaning is determined by context and common usage. Think about this word for a moment: lead. Without context we don’t know how to pronounce the word in English. We don’t even know if it is a noun or a verb. But we don’t just “make up” meanings for it because it could have more than one meaning. We use context and common usage to understand and use the word. With context we know if we are talking about a leash or a soft heavy metal or the process of guiding someone or something else along.

Symbolic language and figures of speech are the same, we use common usage and context to understand their meaning. The bible is our greatest asset in interpreting the bible. Now that may sound circular but when it comes to context and common usage the bible is our first reference for both. We look for other places this phrase or symbol is used and we see how it is used and the meaning it carries. The numbers 12 and 7 are great examples of symbolic numbers. They are used all over the bible so we do not have to guess at their meaning. Again for the more obscure ones you may want to look at commentaries or some other external source, but don’t go there until you have looked carefully at it yourself, then go to eternal sources for help and possibly even confirmation. Finding something yourself can be very satisfying and also much more memorable.

Whatever you do keep reading

I have had the pleasure of working with a few top notch scholars over the years. One of them was Ronald Youngblood who, among many other things, was one of the translators of the NIV bible. After a lecture one day we were talking and I asked him, what keeps you going? You could have retired long ago (he was 80 at the time) and he told me, “every time I read the bible I see something new, the bible is not just a book it is a living thing”. This stuck with me and I have also found it to be absolutely true in my own life.

So whatever you do in your bible reading, read your bible. Read it everyday and let God speak to you, if you do that, you will have no regrets for the time you have spent.

Let me know what you think of this topic, I am thinking about doing a series on how to study the bible effectively. If this is something that interests you let me know, either in the comments below or by replying to the email if you want more privacy.

Have a great week!

According to Webster a liturgy can be described as: a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances. Often this word is used to describe the order of worship on a Sunday morning. But Sunday is only one day of the week, what do we do on the other days?

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

This is a thought I had some years ago as I was preparing a lecture for a bunch of aspiring missionaries. I like to use catch phrases and short quotes as hooks in my teachings and this one sounded good, so I wrote it down. The problem is that this saying is better than I am. As I stared at it I realized that this was not something the students needed to think about as much as it was something I needed to think about. Which is good I guess, since I am always telling young teachers that they can’t lead students anywhere that they have never gone themselves. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander I guess.

This led me to changes in my lifestyle that I have continued to develop to this day. I started thinking about my daily worship and lifestyle. Does it have any substance? Is it an accurate reflection of a changed life? Am I consistent? What do I spend my time on? Do I read, if so, what do I read? Who and what do I listen to? And probably most important, why do I do any of it?

Today I am going to start with a famous verse from the gospel of John. It is part of a dialog Jesus was having with a Samaritan woman by a well. She asked a question about worship in her cultural context a wanted to know who is right about worship(Jews or Samaritans) and where it should be done.

John 4:21-24 (ESV)

I went in to this article today thinking about spiritual disciplines and personal worship. But this passage is once again better than I was looking for. In this passage Jesus is pushing past outward expressions of worship and zeroing in on the source of the worship that needs to be expressed.

Worshiping in Spirit and Truth

What was Jesus really saying with this often quoted phrase? Was he suggesting that formal corporate worship was not important? That it was in some way obsolete? Or was he saying that both Samaritan and Jewish outward worship forms are inadequate? True worship is not simply ritual, true worship flows out of the heart of the worshiper from and through the Spirit.

So if true worship flows from the heart of the worshiper, where does it go from there? How is this true worship expressed? Can true worship ever be unexpressed? Worshiping in Spirit certainly must find some means of expression or it has no reality. Think about it, is it even possible to have a cause without an effect? It seems to me that while true worship is not simply external activity, true worship in the Spirit must find some expression in order to be actualized. After all in Revelation we see many scenes of worship in heaven and they are all very expressive. So what is the proper expression of true worship in the Spirit for us today? Paul says in Romans 12:1 that true worship involves making our lives living sacrifices. Unlike the worship of Jesus’ day where sacrifice was offering up an animal’s life. Paul’s understanding of worship is to offer up our own lives continuously. What does such an ongoing sacrifice look like? And where do we go to learn?

The Word, the Spirit, and us

The Spirit of God breathed through men to give us the scriptures.

2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

In a way, the scriptures like Jesus are a sort of incarnation. These words are an expression of God and His will and His ways to us in a tangible form. We know God by interacting with His word. Therefore to worship in Spirit we must in some way reflect His word to the world. We need to know His word. Through His word we know Jesus with the help of the Spirit. And the Spirit through his work and the word will bear fruit in us, just as Jesus explained to his disciples:

Matt 7:16-18

What does this look like on a Tuesday morning?

This is where it gets real for me. Am I a true worshiper? Or do I just worship sometimes if the music is right. What does worship look like? How do I express this worship? I will not completely answer these questions today obviously. These questions need to be answered though, they need to be answered through the entire course of our lives, and in many different ways.

In the coming weeks I will return to these questions, but for today I want to get very practical and lay what I consider to be the first brick in the wall. Reading God’s word. Going to church is important but it will not feed your soul on a Tuesday morning when life is crashing in from all directions. I know that worshiping in spirit and truth is more than reading the bible. But getting quiet before God and listening to the word that He has breathed out by his Spirit allows his Spirit to work in us, to revive and strengthen us for whatever the day may bring.

Habits can be good

This week let’s consider how we can build a habit of letting God speak through his word by His Spirit to us every day. So that, we can reflect that Spirit as true worship throughout the day.

So if you are not already in the habit of daily bible reading, I would recommend that you get a daily bible reading plan of some sort, there are many, and commit to read a portion of the bible every day. Do this with someone else so you can encourage each other. Use that time in God’s word to reflect and get quiet and allow God to speak through his word. Life will not want to cooperate with this so you will need to aggressively schedule this into each day. Jesus found time even when he was traveling, we can too. After all we never forget to eat and sleep, we always seem to find time for the things we believe to be important.

This takes me full circle to where I started:

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

This week let’s take steps toward becoming a people that truly worship in spirit and truth every day, so that we may show the world God’s glory through our actions. Take some time, make a plan, and begin to create a personal liturgy of your own - today. Build daily habits that will build your life.

Have a great week!

Resources:

Bible Reading Companion app (This is an app I have used especially when travelling)

Daily Lectionary Readings (a nice selection of readings throughout the year)

I am sure there are apps for iphone that give you a daily reading plan as well I just don’t know them to recommend them.

Paul very famously stated, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law”. So how do we begin to harmonize this saying of Paul with the statements of James we are looking at today?

James 2:14-17

This seeming contradiction can be a bit startling at first until you start to consider what Paul and James mean when they say the words “works” and “faith”. Once we define those terms a bit the whole supposed controversy becomes much easier to understand.

Words can have many meanings, I would say that this is one of the main reasons for our current cultural divisions. So how do we understand the meaning of words when words can have more than one meaning? The answer I give my students is that words as well as figures of speech and biblical symbols are defined by common usage and context. Faith for example can have a range of meaning depending on the context.

Faith for James and also for Paul is more than just believing that the truth is true. Faith can, and I think should, be understood as a positive response to the truth. Because as James points out in a moment even the demons “believe” in God and yet they “shudder”.

James 2:18-26

So what are we to make of Paul saying that we are saved without the “works of the law”?

The “works of the law” that Paul refers to here are not the kind of works James is discussing. James is not advocating kosher laws, sacrifices, or circumcision as a means of justification before God. He was defining faith, specifically a genuine and saving faith, as opposed to a mere intellectual assent that the truth is true.

Paul’s comments were in the context of questions that were circling around the churches at that time. There was a lot of debate around the idea that Gentiles needed to become Jewish proselytes, getting circumcised and keeping food laws and other Jewish ceremonial laws, before they could partake in the blessings of the Jewish Messiah. This was also the focus of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15. James was the leader of the church at Jerusalem at the time and he was the one that had the final word at that council. There were those that were assigning saving power to outward acts of Jewish ceremonial law and James shut them down. Paul was dealing with this same kind of false teaching when said works of the law do not save us. But Paul was not talking about being saved without repenting from sinful works. Nor was he saying there was no need for good works.

He was saying we are saved by faith and not “works of the law”. Salvation is now freely available to all, Jew and Gentile alike. This was Paul’s point in saying that. But James was making a very different point in his epistle, one which Paul would have fully agreed with.

Faith does not consist of good works, but saving faith results in good works.

We do not work to be saved, we work because we are saved.

Faith requires a response to what God has freely given us. Consider this famous passage from Paul in Romans.

Romans 10:9-10

So you see for Paul as well as for James faith is not simply believing that the truth is true, it is instead a positive response to that truth. This kind of faith is necessary for the gift to bring about its desired end. To make it more clear consider what Paul said in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:9-10

When you read this it becomes clear that there is no controversy between Paul and James regarding salvation. James was just clarifying for his readers what real faith looked and acted like. He was guarding against a sort empty intellectual belief that was seeping in and corrupting the definition of true living faith.

I discuss this definition of faith further in the article on faith and Walmart.

And finally to show that there is no real difference in the teachings of Paul and James on faith, consider this teaching of Paul to the Ephesian church.

For you may be sure of this,

Jesus told us that to abide in him is to bear much fruit, for without him we can do nothing. As long are we don’t try to reverse the process, and begin to think that God will owe us salvation because of our works, we are in no danger of trying to “earn our salvation”. God will never owe us anything, since everything we have comes from God in the first place.

But there does seem to be a danger here that both Paul and James agree on, and that is possessing a type of faith that does not produce the fruit of good works. If our life is devoid of the fruit of the Spirit I think it is appropriate to ask if we really do have the kind of faith that saves us. Paul told the Corinthian church to “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith”. It was good advice then and I believe it is good advice now.

This week

This week let’s encourage each other to “love and good works” as the author of Hebrews encourages us. We need to remind each other that the Kingdom of God is people, people Jesus died to save. And let’s stay focused on the gift of life that God has provided for us all, and think about what our response to such an unimaginable gift should be as we interact with each other.

This week let’s demonstrate our faith by our actions.

Have a great week!