Adopted Identity

The question arises in how we move from the commonly held identity of 'sinners in need of a savior' into the in Christ, adopted identity and all its implications.  We are 'sinners saved by grace,' yes this is true a soteriology statement, but is this who I am in Christ?  Are we moving from the realization (our sinfulness / need for a savior / understanding forensic justification), abate truism, to living out the identity of adopted sons whom cry out 'Abba, Father?'  Paul brings us to the conclusion that we are all sinners in need of a savior (Romans 1:18–3:20), but Paul does not stop at the need for salvation, he goes on to explain how we've been set free from the bondage of sin (Romans 7), moving towards our status as adoption children of God (Romans 8:15-16; Galatians 4:6).

Who we are 'in Christ' seems to become distorted in the Christian country club churches, driven by the agendas of successful people (patrons) who set the bar based on life performance: you are what you do, what you've accomplished, and you are your success in culture (infiltrating the church).  Christianity becomes a superficial system of moral and spiritual principles for people who are looking to gain an edge in life (participation is a way of earning God's favor, motivating the divine to help you get the life you desire), or by virtue seeking (seeking virtues) which gives one control / autonomy / freedom over one's life.  Instead of 'new life' [a different way of living] they teach 'better life' [abundant material living], and instead of born again (Spiritual transformation) they often teach self-betterment (a modified psychologically based individiation) which trivializes the change we find occurring in the biblical doctrine of conversion.

A strong argument can be made (seeing it already has been made countless times) that the gospel declares who Jesus is, His lordship, and then we are to understand the implications of His lordship.  When you remove the implications of His lordship, such as 'movement towards a new way of living,' it tends to collapse into what Willard had called the 'gospel of sin management.'  Ephesians 4 is a perfect example, where Paul is telling the church 'you must no longer live as the Gentiles' (Eph 4:17), describing the state of the darkened mind the Gentiles possess (Eph 4:18-19; cf Rom 1:26-28), exhorting them to the 'way of life' they were taught as they were gospeled (heard about Christ) and discipled (were taught in him) in (Eph 4:20-21), and to take of this old self so they can put on the new self (Eph 4:22-24) in participating with the Holy Spirit's renewal of their mind.  The problem is that when we skip from 'stop living like the Gentiles' to the therefor in v. 25-28 of 'now you have to stop sinning or you'll give the devil a foothold in your life,' we leave out the new life people are supposed to be living.  As a friend says, "we've been sold a ticket to heaven (God's reign) but haven't been told how to get on, sit on, or even how get along, whether on or looking for the train."

I've enjoyed how Billings' used a Kierkegaard's Anti-Climacus parable in The Sickness unto Death to illustrate our reluctance/resistance to this new adopted identity; "adoption by the King is such a radical notion, we resist it. We would rather have the occasional brush of God’s presence, or a relic of his solidarity with us, so that God can be an appendage of our identity. But God wants more than that; he wants our lives, our adopted identity. By bringing us into the new reality of the Spirit, we can call out to God—Abba, Father—as adopted children united to Christ. Yet there are few things more countercultural than this process of adoption—losing your life for the sake of Jesus Christ, to find it in communion with the Triune God."  (Billings, J. Todd. Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church. Kindle Loc. 425-429).

Jesus our hero.

Jesus our hero.  Hebrews 2:10-15

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.  Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

 He says, 

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—  and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Why was it fitting?  A question we all struggle with as we try to understand the cross.  It was fitting that God, the agent of creation, would make Jesus, the pioneer of salvation, perfect through what he suffered.  There are four main ideas we should pull out of this passage;

1) Something about the character of God can be understood from the fittingness of the crucifixion.  Does God really love people the way scriptures say He loves people?  Is the mercy and compassion of God a truth, or is it something we use to talk up our idea of goodness in the statement that 'God is love?'  It seemed fitting that Jesus suffered and died on a cross.  Within the teachings of Jesus we find the proper response to evil is not more evil, is not violence, no, Jesus' word and deed are one the same, and He defeats evil with love and self-sacrifice.

2) Jesus is the pioneer of salvation for the sons and daughters being brought to glory.  Without Jesus there would be no salvation.  The use of the term 'perfect' is a term qualifying Jesus to be savior of his people, not that Jesus was morally imperfect, but simply that Jesus is 'made completely adequate' for such a task.  The quotation from Psalm 22:22 is applied to Jesus, the righteous sufferer who brings deliverance to his people, and the quotes from Isaiah 8 remind us that the church is the 'children God has given' to Jesus, but then Jesus can also a stumbling block, a stone the builders have rejected.

The term 'pioneer' (Gk. archēgon), can mean 'author', or it can mean a hero, a champion, a pioneer, or a trailblazer.  Calling Jesus our hero will make sense in the lager context of the passage explaining what Jesus has accomplished.  "The term was used for both human and divine heroes, founders of schools or those who cut a path forward for their followers and whose exploits for humanity were rewarded by exaltation. (Keener.  Heb 2:10)

3) Jesus has victory over the death and the devil.  The purpose of the incarnation was so death and Satan would be defeated; to achieve salvation for his children.    He is the one who overpowered the strongman (Luke 11:21-22). Kings win victories for their people, and Jesus is our king, our hero, our champion.  What we should not forget is that the devil continues to hold people in slavery because of their fear of death, and while we have been freed by the forgiveness (cleansing) available because of Christ's work on the cross, others are still in captivity.  Many are waiting to hear the gospel, they reject the idea that they are in bondage, and they need to understand our approach to death brings complete deliverance; Jesus' offer of eternal life.

4) Jesus is someone to be followed.  He is our hero, a forerunner who leads the way.  He is 'the source of eternal salvation' (Hebrews 5:9), 'and being perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation to all those who obey him,' obedience in the acceptance of God's will.  What does not come from Jesus (the source, or the cause) is not true salvation, this is the ultimate point.


Another thought:

The term 'perfect' means complete.   Paul talks about the resurrection being an act of 'completion.'? Jesus was divine and human, but was there something incomplete about Jesus?  Perhaps there is something incomplete about creation?  Creation is good, humans are very good, and now in the resurrection we find completion.  It is finished.  



Bibliography:

Donald Guthrie.  Hebrews.  pp. 90-98
New Bible commentary: 21st century edition. 1994 (D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer & G. J. Wenham, Ed.) (4th ed.) (Heb 2:5–18).
Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Heb 2:10). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Dan Doriani.  lecture.  Jesus Our Emphatic Hero.  Covenant Theological Seminary.

Recycled sermons?

I've recently read of an alleged problem within Christianity pertaining to the lack of unique sermons.  The citation warned about 'recycled sermons,' but this sounds like as a strange chord being played in striving for unique sermons as if we need to search for brave new interpretation to suit the growing complexity of the audience receiving the application.  Recycling two hundred year old illustrations will certainly leave an audience baffled, just as much as a message contextualized for the problems of a foreign culture will most likely be misunderstand in our culture, but the main points in exposition will not drastically change.    

The very idea of too many recycled sermons seems to be kind of a misnomer because of the limited amount of qualifying sermons in the New Testament, so it is a tragedy to think you need a new sermon, or even a different sermon.  Truth is not recycled; the truth claim made in the N.T. is the truth we stand by, and it will always be the truth.  The problem is not too many recycled Piper, MacArthur, Spurgreon, or Westley sermons, all embedded with lots of truth value, but at the same time they have a practical variant which is a tad distant from saying they have the same homelitical truth claim in the Acts sermons or the 1 Corinthians 15 proclamation of the gospel which followed the exhortation of living in a still fallen world.  The problem arises when we are not preaching the N.T. sermon of living in Christ our Lord crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.

Do we suffer from a lack of creativity?  Yes.  Is it wrong for the same thing to be said over and over again?  No.  We have a limited amount of source material, so it may get old to hear the same things over and over again, but should we stray away from N.T. homelitics patterned in the oral gospel and the liturgical epistle.  I'm all for retelling the gospel in today's language, but I don't think we need a unique retelling every time around.

Hardness of Heart

"The quality of being hard rather than soft, stiff instead of pliable, is hardly mentioned at all int he Bible as a physical property. Instead it is a psychological, moral and spiritual quality that covers a range of attitudes, including refusal to listen, inability to understand, irrationality and rebellious disobedience. The part of the body that most often gets metaphorically hardened is the heart ; the image of being "stiff-necked" is a variant." 

Conclusion: "Softness or pliability toward God means to be enlightened by God's truth, obedient to God's commands and compliant with God's will."

Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. pg. 364. 

Scriptural references:

- Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Exodus), classic example
- Joshuah 11:20, achieving His purpose by the action of evil people (also Romans 9:7)
- Rebellion. Psalm 95:8, Exodus 17:1-7, Number 14:22, Hebrews 3:8, 15
- Refusing to listen, not hearing the voice of God. Hebrews 4:7
- Not listening to prophets. Ezekiel 3:7
- Lack of fear of God and straying from His ways. Isaiah 63:17. Not following his commandments. Mark 10:5 (God let them even though it was not God's idea)
- Spiritual Blindness. Mark 3:5, not understanding Jesus redemptive work. Mark 6:52, not understanding or discerning. John 12:40. Hardened mind, 2 Cor 3:14. and being in darkness in Eph 4:8.

Discipleship, church as family.

Ross Parsley. Messy Church. pg. 20-21..

In a family we learn how to work hard, sort out injustice with siblings, and wrestle through disappointment with our parents. We learn expressions of love, humor, manners, and humility, all within the family context.

The family analogy is the best picture of what a healthy and vibrant church community is supposed to look like. If you think about it, families are perfectly designed for discipleship: constant access, consistent modeling, demonstration, teaching and training, conflict management and resolution, failure, follow-up and feedback. And this should all happen in an attitude and atmosphere of love. Children are raised, parents are matured, and grandparents are valued all at the same time. 

This is God’s design.

But our churches don’t tend to have the characteristics of families anymore. Instead, we are more often full of consumers looking for our next God product, bingeing and purging Sunday to Sunday with a steady diet of fast-food TV preachers. We don’t often learn how to fight fair with loving correction and guidance but instead appear to be recruiting culture warriors to fight against an unholy society—or worse, against a perceived political opponent. We all hate religion but love our spiritual individualism with such passion that we may be creating a generation of dechurched orphans who have no authentic spiritual family or heritage.

.. The big C Church is on the verge of a massive shift philosophically and generationally. We are addicted to instant gratification. Microwave Christianity has replaced cooking the family meal. Instead of filming a movie classic, we’re capturing YouTube videos. Instead of taking long, leisurely walks, we’re making mad dashes to the mall. Instead of saving for our children’s inheritance, we’re buying lottery tickets. Our picture of who we are as the church is woefully inadequate and tragically shortsighted.

The Sinners Prayer reconstructed Campus Crusade like prayer for a friend. 

Dear God in heaven, I appeal to Your throne in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge that I am a sinner, and I am remorseful for my sins.  I repent of the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness and grace to enter into my life. 

I believe that Jesus, conceived of by the Holy Spirit, willingly gave his life on the cross for my sins, and the sin of the world.  You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved. 

With my heart, I believe that the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead. I confess Jesus as Lord, the incarnate Son of God, after dying on a cross and being raise, He has ascended to a place of authority over heaven and earth; His kingdom I desire to enter, and His reign I want to live under. In saying that I commit my life to following Jesus, and to living in communion with other followers of Christ Jesus. This very moment I proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord, and Lord of all, thus according to His Word all who call on His name shall be saved, so in faith and hope I know that in accordance to Your will I can be saved.

Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license to sin, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself. 

Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
Amen.

Glory of God - size?

I don't think it can be expressed in size as if God can easily be conformed to our imagination. To even begin to consider the bigness of God in terms of greatness is to first look at the vastness of the universe. Some have tried this method, and while I think it is fascinating and helpful, this only begins to express God's glory.

Imagine a standard grid used to plot numbers.

               --- Us
<---------------------------> God


We are limited by depth of field to the visible portion of the line, yet the line representing God is beyond finite, so we cannot plot God as anything limited to the grid.

God's glory is also expressed by His goodness and holiness. A fuller understanding of the term 'holiness' removes God from the grid and then makes Him author of the grid and your line. The paradox to God not being on the grid is that God is still active on the grid, multi-directional, yet separate from the grid. If we were to speak of God as the grid, then everything becomes divine, polytheistic, and worthy of worship. God's glory sets Him apart as the only thing worthy of worship.

"The God of the Bible is not an ontological black hole, so to speak, but rather a "white hole" of infinitely dense and concentrated reality that can spew forth a universe at the moment of the big bang creation.  Neutron stars, stars that have collapsed catastrophically but that have not yet reached the black hole state, are said to have such a dense concentration of neutrons at the core that all the molecules in Mount Everest could be concentrated in a space the size of a teaspoon.  The image of an intensely and densely concentrated star suggests the analogy of God as an "neutron star" of being - more intensely and densely real than anything in our ordinary human imagination and experience."

John Jefferson Davis.  Worship and the Reality of God.  pp. 50

'Legalism' as a term.

Do we stretch the term legalism beyond it's boundaries?

I should do something, therefor I do it, but an excess of should do's attracts the anti-religious to issue a warrant of legalism. When the term is broadened beyond the original ills in which it confronts, these ideas [or term in itself] is then made to cut off any kind of faith response. Legalism as a term has been rightfully defined to deter the idea of earning salvation [salvation by merit], but in a more modern sense the term can be abused to discourages any kind of commitment to ones' faith.

 I worship because I'm responding, I pray because I know God is good; God has sent His Son die for 'our' sins, called 'us' into and restored 'our' relationship, so various things I do as a Christian come in response to God's love.  I'm not trying earn anything.

Should I pray? Yes. Why should I pray? Because God is good! Why do I pray? Because I believe God is good, I believe Jesus is Lord, and I believe God provides, but in doing so my riches are in God. This doesn't make me legalistic in infer the necessity of a prayer life. Now if I press forward a formulaic system of salvation, such that one must have an active prayer life to be save, then I'm being legalistic.  I urge others [unlegalistically], those person who is trying to follow Christ, to move forward in responding to God's love as an appropriate means to grow a prayer life. My concern about the lack of a prayer life is a concern for an individual's spiritual health.

Sermon on the Mount - Can't be legalized.

The sermon on the mount can't be legalized, its almost completely internalized. What does externalizing a religious ethic lead you toward? Hypocrisy, an outward show of religion that is deficient of internal spirituality. Now I think freedom in Christ is a little bit different than we would expect. I can do anything, but for internal and not purely external reasons I choose not to do certain things. It comes down to where my love is at, and what I let into my heart.

God sees in secret. God sees deep into our heart and knows all our secrets. God knows what we do in private. This is not a covenant of works, but a covenant of love. This is not a covenant of self-denial, this is a covenant of love asking, 'where is your heart at when you do these things.' I'm not trying to earn God's love, but in the understanding of God's love I so desire to love like God. How is this not a religion of denying self, a stoic ethic? Because I know when I let the wrong things into my heart, they compete for my love of God. Therefor I don't desire the same things I once desired. A stoic ethic is much like a purification ethic, but because God sees deep into our hearts and convicts, I'm not doing this alone, I'm doing this through God's love. I don't have to be dependent on myself, I just have to seeking, keep following after Jesus because that's where my heart is leading me. I want to be a disciple, and I don't have to explain all the mysteries.

Oddly, many who reject Christianity know deep down in their hearts that only God can judge. They are aware of a higher accountability, but it doesn't lead them anywhere.

God sees in secret.

I was once extremely skeptical of the high number of  pew sitters in church, but perhaps they knew something I didn't. Living a servant life is not summed up as a Sunday morning exercise of volunteering. This was indeed my entry point, and I would not persuade a person away from activity in church. God sees in secret what you do when you leave church. God is right there. My service in church doesn't earn me any favor, nor is it an indicator of what God is seeing in secret. But my service in church has encouraged growth on many levels, and often in times of lament it has reminded me of how close God is. I've come to realize that being a servant happens in many ways throughout the week.

The pew sitters are there because they've responded to something, and we need to keep that in mind. Our local church many not be complete enough to utilize the servant gifts of the pew sitter. 

What else may the pew sitters know? 

There is something more to the Christian life than a public display of religious activity. So I have to check myself to make sure that I'm not being a hypocrite. Am I on stage for the right reasons? Have I received my reward? I don't know what rewards has the pew sitter has stored up in heaven if it's things in secret that play a role in defining who we are with God. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Jesus warns us not to judge, and why Paul warns against comparative spirituality. Don't be so high on yourself for what you've done in public, and what you see in public, for God sees in secret.

The danger occurs when you're been playing the game for so long that you no longer realize you're playing it, and this gives way to the worst kind of hypocrisy.  It's even dangerous when you've inherited the game, thinking this is normative Christianity and then try to break from game. 

Psalm 111 - reflection

Psalm 111 - reflection

Do we ever stop to consider the massive impact of the historical revelation of what God did in Egypt?  There are subtle echoes of this in the surrounding nations in Joshua, Samuel, and even into Kings.  This must have rocked the Ancient Near East, so much so that people were still talking about it hundreds of years later.  What a huge revelation it must have been in this world for God to set plagues on Egypt, bring His people out, and then deliver the land of Israel into the hands of his covenant people.  Over and over again you find God reminding the people that He brought them out of Egypt, and then a strange irony in that the surrounding nations, often in times of conflict, haven't forgotten this is the God who humiliated the Egyptian gods and conquered the land of Canaan for his people.

            Praise the Lord.
            I will extol the Lord with all my heart
            in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
         
            Great are the works of the Lord;
                they are pondered by all who delight in them.
            Glorious and majestic are his deeds,
                and his righteousness endures forever.
            He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
                the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
            He provides food for those who fear him;
                He remembers his covenant forever.
            He has shown his people the power of his works,
                giving them the lands of other nations.
            The works of his hands are faithful and just;
                all his precepts are trustworthy.
            They are steadfast forever and ever,
                done in faithfulness and uprightness.
            He provided redemption for his people;
                He ordained his covenant forever—
            holy and awesome is his name.
         
            The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
                all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
            To him belongs eternal praise.

Consider the Ancient Near East, what God's covenant with Israel was revealing to outsiders.  Now consider how in the new covenant we are conquering the world as God's people through peace, and how appropriate it is for this time in history.  God acts in the fullness of time, but He also acts within an appropriate revelation for that time.

God brought his people out of Egypt and says, "you shall have no other gods before me," speaking into a brutal pantheistic age.  The world begins a slow movement towards monotheism.  The other of the 10 Commandments start humanity towards less war and less violence, more humane living, more tolerance, less justice killings, and overall, better relationships.  Polygamy disappeared over time in the lands under Judeo Christian influence, as did slavery, and countless other things.  Ancient history is unsettling to study, it's horrific at times, and it bring you to a point of having almost culture sock when you glance into these ancient cultures.  You can't help but be in awe of what God has done from then to now.

Imagine the surrounding cultures staring into Israel.  What does God want them to see?  A lamp on a lampstand?  Yahweh is no tribal God, no, He is the one true God.  He is the creator God.  He is in control of history, or in a Christocentric sense, moving history to a point where the world is ready for His Son.  To do this, He must keep reminding His people to be faithful.  What does God gain by working miracles when His people have fallen away into idolatry?  The surrounding nations see them worshiping Ashera or one of the figures of Baal, and God loses ground if His work is not recognized as distinctly His own.  A victory in battle was a victory for God, for Israel, and for all future generations of the earth who comes to see the glory of God in clearer vision.  A lose for Israel also served as a revelation when they were not faithful, and yet God was still faithful to the covenant.  It took time.

We should be aware of how God is speaking to the world through the new covenant.  Jesus communicates this to us, through Kingdom language, through his prayers and teachings.  Torah law was often limiting ancient uncivil behavior and practice, attribute this to God's patience and commitment to redeeming creation; at times to be very grieved by human behavior, but as the timetable for transformation is sometimes slow, we should not view these laws as condoning or enabling things God was seeking to remove.. in His good time.  The world in the first century was ready for a savior, ready for radical new teachings and a covenant extended to all nations.  As we live as God's people, we should remember the lessons learned in the stories of the past by viewing God's work in the world, through a chosen people, but we should also be looking forward and speaking of the final promises yet to be fulfilled.  He remembers his covenant forever.

Humility -

It is utterly pointless to have knowledge of humility without servitude.  The recognition of humility in others is often seen through the benefits which accompany humility as a characteristic, then the downside is the expectation and not the posture.  Understanding humility and not practicing humility, mostly because the heart is not in a place where it can be humbled is simply an understanding to project onto others as an expectation.  A more true manifestation of humility comes in service to others.  And yes, it is not hard to be humbled by God, before God, specially in an understanding of His majesty.  On the horizontal field it yields an understanding that your neighbor is just as in need of God's grace as you once were [and continue to be], and that God wants to spread His grace through servitude, thus you can be comfortable with the idea of serving the fellowship table and not have to compete for the highest place at the table.  - That is what I would define as meekness. 

Easter 2012

1. To Be Alone With You - Sufjan Stevens

2. He Is Faithful - Bryan & Katie Torwalt

3. Your Love Is Deep - Ben Thomas arrangement 

4. Christ is Risen - Matt Maher

5. War On War - Wilco

6. Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven  Loretta Lynn

7. He Never Said A Mublin Word - Bifrost Arts

8. This Is Not the End - Gungor

9. Oh Our Lord - All Sons and Daughters 

Alternates - awareness of Jeroboam and Rehoboam

In 1 Kings 12-14, Jeroboam made the following critical errors; these are telltale throughout 1 Kings; trusting your own wisdom, following your own rational, and ignoring the statues and charges from God.

Rehoboam at first listened to bad advice, but later on he listens to the prophetic advice and avoids wars.  His concern shifted to the people, where as it was not with the people in the initial transfer of kingship from Solomon.

Jeroboam set up alternates in fear of losing the people, so he instituted idols (two golden calves), alternate worship sites, alternate festival, and alternate priests.  This is an allusion to Aaron 'thinking to himself,' and not trusting that God was in control.  A fear and panic set in, people then believed Moses would not come down off the mountain.  Jeroboam, much like Aaron, received some very bad advice, and then he acted out on that advice.  His spoken rational was that of a person seeking to win the people, or in other word, he wanted to be liked by the people.  I can imagine Aaron acting with the same motives.  The result was the dividing of worship from the true place of worship, instituting objects of worship, and appointing some not so holy priests.  This had deviating results.  In the end he ignored the prophetic warning on multiple occasion, along with all that he been given in scripture as commands.

Substitutes may win the people, but in the end you lose much more than you gain

A Kingdom Proclamation

Imagine the whole of Scripture as a 780,000 word grand marriage proposal, complete with the details of the wedding, the groom's character, and the background of his family (historical lineage and seeming 'across the ocean' distance). This proposal gives accounts of why he is good, why you have hope with him, and what he wants you to do during the betrothal period.

He lets you know of the feud taking place that is causing tension in the land and will reach its climax right before the ceremony. He explains that there will be a grand conflict between the groom's side of the wedding party and those principalities who oppose his family, partly because of the land deal involved, and partly because they reject the rule and authority of the groom's royal family.

Other principalities will try to talk you out of it, attempt to slander you, and sometimes persecute you. Later attempts may be made to cloud your perception of your value to the groom and his family, often suggesting he could not really love you. But the groom is patient, forgiving mistake after mistake, even though you may still have an occasional moment of doubt, anxiousness, or anxiety continuing up to the wedding day. However, he will persistently comfort and reassure you – even offer you rest in the interim.

Meanwhile, if you accept his grand proposal, he will give you a task in preparation for the upcoming wedding feast. Like a bride-to-be, your role will be to proclaim the good news of your beloved’s first coming and his coronation as king which will take place upon his second coming. You would also share with others about the goodness of your new family and frequently welcome others to join your family, even as you commune with your beloved while you await your anticipated marriage ceremony. These are no small tasks, so the groom has sent you one of his closest companions to serve as your counselor and to console you as you persevere until the groom himself can be with you.

Recently I've been interested in Biblical Theology, and as I get back into posting this should explain the direction of many of my thoughts. 

Please allow me to try to explain my interest in the Bible and theology. At times, as I seek to find God’s will for my life, these interests have become near obsessions taking on many forms and many questions: (1) What makes a good hymn and what constitutes good worship music? (2) What was wrong with the form of Christianity I was taught as a child such that it did not cause me to find Christ? (3) What is Christianity? (4) How do I understand my story? (5) How are we supposed to live as Christians today? [I always come back to this question.] (6) How do I communicate this to others in an understandable context?

Communication has proven to be the key. In some ways, I feel closer to God in Biblical studies than I do in the music/worship realm. Recently, I have felt close to God by becoming a servant to others by communicating Him to others. In this, I have found the answer to an earlier question about how to be closer to God outside of the worship service, church, and the whole of the institution. It's amazing how God shows up in one-on-one conservations, group discussions, Bible study groups, and other situations when the focus is not on our own selves. The Bible is not a self-help book, but it's a very long story about God's love for us. When I can communicate this properly, not as anthropocentric but as God-centered, away from soterian reductionism, then the whole of the Gospel comes to life. In some ways, we all have a dysfunctional quilt of inappropriately categorized and grouped Scripture, woven together by value appraisal, but largely disconnected from the narrative.

Saturday or Sunday as the day of worship?

Not too long ago I was brought into a discussion about Sabbath, where I was presented with some really bad history, essentially that it was Constantine who changed the day of worship to Sunday.  I remembered a portion of Frank James lectures on the early church, so my initial response was, "sorry I've heard otherwise."   The following is research I did over the next couple of days.

"Paul was concerned about the worship of the Corinthians church.  In 1st. Corinthians 14, he gives his council about how 'orderly worship' ought to take place.  This is not something that emerged later, but it appears in apostolic times.  How did the early church worship?  What went on?  How did it work itself out? 

Well the obvious first thing to mention is that the church service too place on a Sunday.  That was of course the same day that Christ arose from the grave, so the early church met on Sunday."

- Dr. Frank James III.  Introduction, Early Church Life, and Apostolic Fathers.  Lecture.  Reformed Theological Seminar

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The early church:

The Lord's day -

"The expression "Lord's Day" (GK. Kyriake hemera), found only in Christian sources, first appears in Rev. 1:10 as a designation of the first day of the week.  It is not to be confused with the eschatological "day of the Lord" (hemera tou kyriou).  The most plausible explanation of the term is that it derives from the parallel expression "Lord's Supper" (1 Cor. 11:20), since the early Christians gathered on the first day of the week to celebrate this meal as the culmination of their corporate worship.  An account of an early (late 50's) Lord's Day service is found in Acts 20:7-11, beginning with the words  "on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread."  Christians chose the first day of the week for worship undoubtedly because Christ rose on that day and met with the gathered disciples at the time of the evening meal.  At this time He ate and drank with them (Lk. 24:41-43; cf. Acts 10:41), renewing the table fellowship that He had shared with them on the night on which He was betrayed.  Hence the Lord's day worship is the Christian festival of the Resurrection, in which Christians, like the original disciples, have fellowship with one another and with the risen Christ whom they trust as Savior and worship as God.

This conclusion throws light on Paul's reference to the first day of the week when writing to the Corinthians about a collection for the Jerusalem church: "On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come" (1 Cor. 16:2).  Paul did not choose the first day above other as peculiar to the situation of the Corinthians: he said that he gave the same instructions to the churches of Galatia (v. 1).  Nor does the idea of regular saving of money imply that it must be done on the first day of the week.  Hence there must have been some other reason, understood by Paul and his reader, why he expressly designated the first day.  Since in a later letter (2 Cor. 9:12) he called the collection set aside on this day a leitourgia, i.e., a ministration of a sacred character, the choice of the day definitely point to its religion significants."

Geoffry W. Bromiley. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. p.158



Revelation 1:10-11

        "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,  saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”   NKJV

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These letters and documents hold a well preserved record of the church meeting on the Lord's Day.  


The Didache (late first century or early second century)  (14.1)

Is an indication of the widespread practice of Sunday worship being in place in the first or early second century, citing regular Christian meetings on 'the Lord's Day.'


Barnabas. (late first century or early second century)   (Epistle 15.9)

"We celebrate the eighth day with joy, on which Jesus rose from the dead, and, after having appeared [to his disciple], ascended to heaven."

Ignatius. (died 108 A.D.)  To the Magnesians 9 (ANF 1:63)

"Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our life is blessed by Him and by His death."

"Consequently, if the people who were given to obsolete practices faces the hope of a new life, and if these no longer observe the Sabbath, but regulate their calendar by the Lord's Day, the day, too, on which our Life rose by His power and through the medium of His death - though some deny this; and if to this mystery we owe our faith and because of it submit to sufferings to prove ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Teacher: How then can we possibly live apart from Him whom, by the working of the Spirit, even the Prophets were disciples and to whom they looked forward as their Teacher?  And so He, for whom they rightly waited, came and raised them from the dead."

Justin Martyr (103-165 A.D.)  First Apology 67  (ANF 1:186)

"But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead."

Clement of Alexandria (192 AD)

"A Christian, according tot he command of the Gospel, observes the Lord's day, thereby glorifying the resurrection of the Lord." (Strom.  VII. p. 744)

"The Lord's day is the eight day."  (Strom V. p. 600)
"Having reached this point, we must mention these things by the way; since the discourse has turned on the seventh and the eighth. For the eighth may possibly turn out to be properly the seventh, and the seventh manifestly the sixth, and the latter properly the Sabbath, and the seventh a day of work. For the creation of the world was concluded in six days." (Strom VI.)

*Stromata, or Miscellanies


Tertullian  (200 AD)  Answer to the Jews, Chapter 4

“The Lord’s Day is the Holy Day of the Christian Church.  Though we share with the sun-worshippers the observance of Sunday, we are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathen.  We celebrate the day after Sabbath in destinction of those who call that day their Sabbath.”

Eusebius

"From the beginning, Christians assembled on the first day of the week. It was called the Lord's Day by John in the Apocalypse. They met on the Lord's Day for the purpose of religious worship, to read the Scriptures, to preach and to celebrate the Lord's Supper."

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Evidence from the NT


1 Corinthians 16:2

"According to v. 2 the money was to be set aside by each individual Corinthian and then collected at each home on the first day of the week, that is, Sunday.  We have evidence here that the day of religious duty and worship for the Christian, even in Paul's time, was Sunday, no the Jewish sabbath.  Acts 20:7 is clearer on this point (cf. Rev. 1:10)."  - Ben Witherington III.  Conflict and community in Corinth...  pg. 315


Colossian 2:16

"The general purport of Colossians 2:16 is that the distinctive holy days of the Old Testament are no longer binding on holy days of the Old Testament are no longer binding on New Testament believers because "these are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however is found in Christ" (v. 17).  Hence v. 16 would seem to be referring primarily to obsolete Old Testament ordinances, of which the seventh-day Sabbath was one, and probably the feast-day Sabbath was another."

- Gleason L. Archer, Jr.  New International Encyclopedia of Biblical Difficulties.  pg. 240


Acts 20:6-7  (they met on the first day of the week)

        "But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
   
         Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight."  NKJV

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Paul's reflections on the absence of the Jewish Sabbath.

Romans 13:9-10, Colossians 2:14-16, Romans 14:5-6, 13

We know that Judaizing was a prominent theme in Galatians.  Paul addresses the fulfillment of the Law in Galatians 3:19-26, essentially now Christians live by faith, not by Torah.  In Romans 13:9-10 we find that 'love fulfills the law,' and in Romans 14:5-6 it implies no day is more holy than another, accepting a day of worship is an act of faith, which is a theme in the latter parts of Romans, .  In Colossians 2:16, Paul urges believers to not accept judgment (most likely from Judaizers) based on Sabbath practice, and in Romans 14:16 to also stop judging each other.

In Hebrews 10:25, which was written to a Jewish-Christian community, you find evidence of that not everyone was coming to the service on Sunday. (1)  Earlier in Hebrews ch. 3-4 this topic of Jesus being greater than Moses, and Jesus as great High Priest was discusses in length, along with rest from law, phrased in a somewhat humorous paradox 'of actively and vigorously seeking and pursuing rest.' (2)  In 8:1-13 we find a new covenant in place of the old (cf. Jer 31:31-34), and this covenant is an adequate entity in itself. (3)  The book was to provide comfort and encouragement to Jewish Christians who were struggling with persecution, and also who were defecting back to institutions and rituals of the Old Testament, which are fulfilled in the work of Christ.  Commentators have argued that in the eyes of its author, going back to such institutions is apostasy.

(1) Laurie Guy.  Introducing Early Christianity: A Topical Survey of its Live, Beliefs  .p 121
(2) Ben Witherington III.  Letters and Homilies for Jewish Christians: A Socio-Retorical Commentary on the  p. 183
(3) Jim Girdwood, James Girdwood, and Peter Verrkuyse.  Hebrews. pg. 138-139.



A summery of how Sabbath finds fulfillment in Jesus, in Tom Wright's 'Scripture and the Authority of God', via Scot McKnight.

1. In the OT Sabbath was a strong commandment, it was the day YHWH took up abode in the temple of creation (here he chimes in with John Walton) and asked image-bearers to enjoy that same rest.

2. Sabbath shows that history is going somewhere, it is a temporal sign that creation is headed toward that final rest, and it is sacred time.

3. Sabbath has to be connected to Jubilee, and therefore to justice and compassion for the poor, and that means Sabbath and Jubilee point us toward the restoration of creation.

4. Jesus thought the entire Sabbath principle pointed toward himself. Time was fulfilled in him; a new kind of time begins with him. Paul does not seem to care about Sabbath, and he observes its absence in Romans 13:9; Col 2:14-16; Rom 14:5-6. I have to be brief: it’s about time’s fulfillment. Sacred time finds its way to Jesus Christ and new creation.

5. To continue celebrating sabbaths is to focus on the signposts when we have already arrived. Thus, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” You don’t need the alarm clock when the sun is flooding the room with its light.

6. The early Christians didn’t transfer Sabbath to Sunday. (because Sabbath was fulfilled)

7. We don’t need to back up into a Sabbatarianism.

8. We “celebrate” instead of “rest” — a kind of celebration rest. We reserve this day for new creation life. Music, the meal, family, service, peace, justice, love — these are the notes of Sunday for those who see the fulfillment of Sabbath in Jesus.

Baptism

BB&Q and Baptism 2011

Outdoor worship service.

1. Those Who Trust - Waterdeep

2. Your Grace Is Enough - Chris Tomlin

3. Song of Hope - Robbie Seay Band

4. Everlasting God - Lincoln Brewster

5. Happy Day - Steve Fee 

After two years of thinking about it I finally got baptized.  Thank you Damian for the nudge, Mike for the words of encouragement, and Jenn for coming out from Ohio to cheer me on.

When self checks become ritual

Late last spring I was convinced by a friend to institute self-checks as part of good practice in spiritual preparation for entering into worship.  The best worship environment happens when we let go of the world and the focus on God, so for the last year my self check has been Luke 10:24.  I found it is a great reminder of who I'm serving, and why the music is much more than just a performance.  It has been very calming in moments of nervous anticipation; a reflecting on the greatest commandment which yields 'self' to the service of God and others from the depths of my heart.

Today I didn't feel any peace accompanying the creed.  In fact I found myself in a moment despair; realizing for the last month or so the creed had become a ritual.  The count down to beginning of the service was close and found only seconds left, and suddenly that overwhelming nervous feeling has resurface in a new way.  'Oh come on now, what a strange time for the realization that I've going through the motions.  I don't have time for this..  Ok so how do I best serve God in this moment?'

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

 'With all your strength'..  I am bass player, I need to be strong, be a conduit for energy, drive the music, and make some joyous noise.

It turned out to be a great worship service.

Guest Worship Leader

Next weekend Aaron Niequist is coming to lead worship at The Orchard. He is one of the Worship Leaders at Willow Creeks, and you might know of him from a song called Changed. I looked at his bio, and then read his blog for a few hours trying to get an idea of what to expect. I found out some interesting things, most notably that he was the Worship Leader at Mars Hill under Rob Bell.



Around the beginning of this year, Mike suggested a book called Velvet Elvis, and I really dug into a lot of what Rob Bell had to say. He also produced a series of videos called NOOMA. Later I found his podcasts. I still occasionally listen to the Mars Hill sermons, but I've expanded outward to all the old Tim Keel Jacobs Well podcasts, Tim Keller, anything I can find from N.T. Wright, the Veritas Forum, Michale Hyatt, Carson Weber, Worship Central, and I just started downloading the Willow Creek study classes. Sometimes I listen to an audio bible instead of podcasts when I go out for a walk or run. This started back in February with the discovery of the Mars Hill podcasts.

Did I mention that I also read a lot? Keeping a journal on what I'm studying has been the best way to organize my thoughts. I have a pretty good handle on the New Testament, no where near what I'd like to have, but in terms of context and wisdom, I've found a great love for God's word.

Yesterday I found the music posted on Planning Center for the weekend. Our giving back song is a hymnal version of Take My Life; a live version that Aaron preforms in a style I find unfamiliar. Over and over I start the track back to the beginning, trying to lock onto the accent shift going out of the verse into the chorus, and then into the refrain. Finally I let the track finish to hear Aaron closing with a prayer, "may you, my brothers and sisters of the Mars Hill community.."

Wow, talk about the good kind of chills. I confess that at one time I thought playing praise music at Mars Hill would be the coolest thing in the world.

I've felt pretty somber since Mike left to take on a new role out in California. Mike is a spiritual leader, a nurturing type that brings out the best in you, and he was the rock of the arts team. I'm pretty confident that God has a plan for his church, and I'll support whatever direction we take. Still I was left very fearful of the future; for one I find a big difference in playing praise music for ones merit, which is very different from using spirituality to create the worship environment. Over the last 16 months I've really developed an awareness of God's presence in our worship, and it has pushed me to try and understand why there are times when it feels so strong and so powerful. This will be my first weekend playing without Mike, and I was still a bit uneasy that it might not ever feel the same. So when I listened to Aaron's recording of Take My Life, it really felt like God was reaching out to show me how far I've come, and to say, "hey buddy it's going to be ok."


Btw, we are playing Changed.

Changing minds with spirituality.

Changing minds with spirituality.

Around April a strong feeling set in; I needed to at least be practicing in a band setting every week. After hearing stories from other musicians who split time between churches, I was considering splitting time between the Orchard and another local church that was short on bass players.  There was conflict with the theory of placement, and the issue of loyalty, so I prayed a lot for guidance.  Then came a call, which was completely out of the blue, with an offer to audition for a cover band.  Their band practice was Thursday night, fitting perfectly into my schedule, so I accepted.

Initially it was a lot of fun to learn new songs, tighten them up every week in practice, and then talk about available gigs. The band members were easy going; everyone shared the idea that we were out to have fun playing music that we like.  No egos, no rockstar mentalities, none of that diva stuff.  It was a guys night for them; low stress, have a few beers, and practice the songs they are in a mood to play that night.  Honestly it was the cure to midlife crisis through being part of a bad.

Something interesting happened this weekend.  We played at a toga party thrown as a 20th high school reunion alternative to the actual event, hosted by my drummers at his beautiful house in a very upscale area. His friends are all new money, self-absorbed, status conscious people, and while I liked most of them, I really didn't feel like I fit in.

Later in the afternoon they were having a weird conversation about the world ending, that's when he turns to me and says, "you're the most holy person I know, and the day the world starts coming to an end I'm going to find you." I give him a shrug and he adds, "if there is anyone that God is going to save, it is going to be you. Maybe you can put in a good word for me."

Now I'm really perplexed because I've invited them out to church once or twice and they were quickly avoid the subject, so I dropped it. Through brief conversations I came to know where they stand with religion. None of them want to have any affiliation with Christianity, so I've never tired ministering to them, and I've never played up my status as being outwardly holy. We've had a few conversations about getting paid to play at church, and nothing I could say would change their minds from this exploitation happening every weekend.  Seriously, if I could play praise music seven days a week for free, then I would. I'm confident that God would take care of me.

So I asked why he thinks I'm that holy because I don't perceive myself as being any different than other Christians I know at church. His answer is more attuned to how I carry myself spiritually; being humble, honest, forgiving, patient, and not being judgmental toward anyone in the band for the lack of religious practice. I'm not the typical Christian. But what if..? 



This is what happens when you don't practice for a month.