Winsome?

I am all for winsomely witnessing, but I don't want to use the concept as a cloak for cowardice. That is hardly what I see in Paul's instruction to Timothy to be "instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all patience and instruction." And then Paul's next words, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine..." (2 Timothy 4:2 - 3). 

There's a pretty thought, people not enduring sound doctrine. 

There is little clamor for sound doctrine today, but there is much clamor for religious entertainment. Maybe the professing-church has surpassed Hollywood?

It just struck me that I may have to change my term "the professing-church", which I use to distinguish from the True Church. Why? Because the broader church doesn't profess much of anything anymore - we are a people without a creed, a people without a confession. Why we don't even confess Jesus. We confess politics, we confess health and wealth, we confess the Baskin - Robbins religious flavor of the month, we confess nationalism, we confess our sports teams, we confess slavery to sin when it is useful to excuse our disobedience. 

Back to winsomely witnessing, I wonder if I can find some winsome witness in the prophets?

A Quote on the OT to Ponder

Here's a quote to ponder:

“The Old Testament is not to the New like the chrysalis, out of which the living “life” has burst, and is now only a lifeless casement; rather is it like the personal appearance of Him, who has in man’s sight ‘no form or comeliness’, but which, when He appeared in His glory, was transfigured, and shone transparently, with a portion of His Majesty which was veiled within it; or so again, that His risen Body, still bore the print of the nails and of the spear, and could be handled, although it was no longer subject to the laws of flesh, but showed itself to be a ‘glorified Body’, and what before seemed the exception and a miracle, when It walked on the water, now appeared as the rule; and Jesus came and went uniformly after the manner of a Spirit, to accustom us to think on His Body as spiritualized, yea, Deified and yet a Body, so should we regard the Old Testament, not as the dead body of our Lord, to be embalmed with honour, and laid with the dead, but as a living and true Body, which it hath pleased God to take, in order to be accessible to us; and wherein alone we can see Him “Full of grace and truth.”  Edward Bouverie Pusey, Lecture 24 (Italics mine). 

Ezra (3)

Here is this week's exploration of Ezra that we're using in our men's group. Perhaps there is something here for you.

Keeping in mind that we’re doing an overview of Ezra, and that we’re not getting into a lot of details; and remembering that the purpose of this overview of Ezra and Nehemiah is to give us background to read the Minor Prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi – I’d like us to please read Ezra chapters 1 – 3.

In 1:5 we see that there were three primary groups of Jews who returned from Babylon – Persia to Judah; Judah, Benjamin, and the priests-Levites. These had primarily constituted the southern kingdom of Judah which was destroyed and mostly deported by Babylon. Remember that the northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrian empire and its ten tribes deported and scattered long before Judah was conquered, so the people of the old Northern Kingdom are not really in this picture, we’re reading about the survivors of the Southern Kingdom.

Do not sweat the lists and numbers of people in Chapter 2. This is not to say that there aren’t treasures to be found in these verses, this is Sacred Scripture and all of these words are here for a reason, but we are looking to gain an overview and get a general idea of what was going on. If nothing else, Chapter 2 demonstrates that records were kept and that when records weren’t kept (see 2:59 & 62) that there were problems.

Note the names Zerubbabel and Jeshua in 2:2 – you’ll read them again, both in Ezra and elsewhere.

Note that people could trace the work of their ancestors back hundreds of years to King Solomon (2:55 – 58). Think of English last names like Smith, Cooper, Carpenter, etc.

In 3:2 we see Jeshua and Zerubbabel again. Take a look at Matthew 1:12 – 13. What family tree is Zerubbabel in?

Jeshua is the leader of the priests and Levites; Zerubbabel, of the tribe of Judah, is head of the civil government.

In 3:2 we see that Jeshua and Zerubbabel are going to follow the Word of God in their worship. How can we worship without knowing God’s Word?

In 3:3 we see that there is hostility surrounding the people of God and that “terror was upon them” (the people of Judah). Yet they were determined to worship in the midst of their enemies. Psalm 23:5.

Genesis 8:20; 12:7 – 8; 13:3-4, 18; 22:9; 26:25; 33:20; 35:1 – 7. What pattern of life do we see in these verses?

What does worship look like in our lives? Especially, what does it look like Monday – Saturday?

If we are married, what does it look like with our wives? What are the possibilities to improve our worship experience with our wives Monday – Saturday?

Are we building altars of worship wherever we go? At home? At work? In our neighborhoods? In our families? In our civic and service organizations? What does this look like? What might it look like? How can we build altars of worship? In our own lives? In the lives of others? (Let’s recall John 4:23-24).

This idea of worship is central to the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In many ways the central question of life is, “Whom or what will I worship? What worship will I model for my family and others? What will be my reputation for worship?”

The concluding book of the OT, the Minor Prophet Malachi, focuses on worship

We all worship one central person or thing – that is our center of gravity, that is the big rock in our jar and we place all other rocks around it. Is it financial security? Is it the toys we have? Is it reputation and prestige? Is it sex, drugs, and rock and roll? Is it pleasure in one form or another? Is it sports? Is it family (yes, we can worship family)? Is it self?

When our feet hit the floor in the morning, what are we here for? (If we could review one another’s calendar and bank statement we’d likely find the answer).

Note that in 3:4 the Feast of Booths is celebrated, this is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Ingathering. Leviticus 23:33 – 44; this is the best reference to read about the Feast of Booths – note why they are to erect booths. The people came out of Egypt under Moses, and in Ezra this first group is coming out of Babylon – Persia under Jeshua and Zerubbabel. (If you want to read other references they are: Exodus 23:16; Deut. 16:13 – 17; Numbers 29:12 – 40).

Considering Ezra 3:8 – 13; what is the picture of worship that we see in this instance?

It appears that there were two primary emotions in verses 12 – 13; the survivors of the 70-year captivity wept with loud voices. Was it because they had lived to see this day? Was it because they remembered the splendor of Solomon’s Temple and that they knew that the rebuilt Temple would not match the glory of Solomon’s Temple? I suppose it could be either/or, perhaps both at the same time. Then the people who had never seen Solomon’s Temple shouted and rejoiced, they did not have an awareness of the former glory of the Temple.

What is the foundation of our Temple? Of our local congregations? Of our lives?

Matthew 7:24 – 29; Ephesians 2:19 – 22; 1 Peter 2:4 – 8.

The Restoration - Ezra (2)

Here is my follow-up to the previous post on Ezra 1:1 - 4 and Ephesians Chapter 2; sent to my men's group:

Good evening brothers,

As you know (I hope), I don't usually expect either group to get through all the material in terms of discussion, but I do want to circle back in this email on the last question I asked in the handout, the one about Ephesians Chapter 2. How might Ephesians Chapter 2 related to Ezra 1:1 - 4? 

While we'll see the linkage throughout Ezra, Nehemiah, and especially Haggai, I want to make the point now:

Ephesians 2 begins with a focus on our individual salvation, but it ends with a picture of us as the Temple of God, as the corporate dwelling place of God, as the habitation of God.

Ezra begins with Cyrus releasing people from captivity to explicitly return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. 

We are saved as individuals to become part of the Body of Christ, the Church, the Temple. 

The Jews were released from captivity to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. 

As we will see, when the Jews returned to Jerusalem they became preoccupied with building their own houses (Haggai begins with this problem). Yes, they did face opposition, but they (and we) can expect opposition; but whether they had opposition or not, they became self-focused.

While Christians in the West may assemble for Sunday mornings, do we really live in community? Or is church not much different from a civic or service organization? Do we put God's Living Temple first, do we put the Great Commission first; or do we put our own agendas first? 

If we will ponder these things I think we may find the parallels between Ezra and the Church striking. God didn't draw us to Christ to do our own thing or have our "best life now" or any of the other self-centered teachings in cotton-candy Christianity that keep us from the Cross of Christ. 

Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi ought to be a challenge to our "me first" attitude as Christians who live in the most prosperous land on earth.

The Restoration - Ezra (1)

The group of men I meet with on Tuesday mornings is nearing the end of its exploration of the Minor Prophets and Daniel. Below is the material I sent out last week for this morning's time together. There may be something here for you. If you do nothing else, consider the last question I ask - the one about Ephesians Chapter 2.

Blessings,

Bob

We have three Minor Prophets left in our series; Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. However, because there is a break of more than 70 years between Zephaniah and Haggai, and because the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon and the deportation of much of Judah occurred at the beginning of this 70-year period, we need to capture the historical context of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi – otherwise we won’t appreciate what God is doing through these three prophets.

As a reminder, when we explored Daniel we saw that Daniel is the one prophet who spans this 70-year period; he was deported by the Babylonians (Daniel 1:1 – 7) at the beginning of the 70 years and he lived at least to the beginning of the end of the 70 years (Daniel 9:1 – 2). While Daniel is not technically considered a Minor Prophet, we began our study with him because of his historical position in the line of Biblical prophets, especially because he lived during the 70-year captivity.

For the next few weeks we’re going to look at the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These three books close out the Biblical “history” section of the Sacred Text, which we can think of as beginning with Joshua, coming as Joshua does after the Pentateuch or Torah, the Five Books of Moses (which of course also contain history, but also covenants and the Mosaic Law).

Haggai and Zechariah both appear in Ezra, and we can’t really read one book without reading the other two books. Nehemiah builds on Ezra, and Esther is a nice exclamation point on the sovereignty of God during this time of transition for Judah.

While the entire Old Testament speaks of Christ and His Body, the Church, His Bride; I have long felt that Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi unveil critical paradigms for the Church. Sadly most Christians are unaware of the story of the 70-year captivity and the restoration of the Temple and Jerusalem, a restoration that was not without spiritual struggle and conflict. More than once I have desired that a congregation “see” the message of Haggai so that we would leave our self-centered narcissistic ways and deny ourselves and go “all-in” for Christ and the Cross. I am certain that I have not always been faithful to God’s message through Haggai, but that is my desire. But before we get to Haggai we’ll need to begin with Ezra.

Our passage for next week is Ezra 1:1 -4.

Compare Isaiah 44:24 – 45:7; Jeremiah 25:1 – 14; 29:10 – 14; Daniel 9:1 – 19 with Ezra 1:1 – 4.

How are these passages related to each other? What do you see? What do we learn about God?

What is the express purpose of Cyrus’s decree?

Why was Cyrus releasing the people of Judah from their captivity?

Why does God, through Christ, release us from our captivity to sin and death? (Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:9 – 10; 1 Peter 2:9 – 10; Romans 12:1 – 2)

Ephesians Chapter 2 – can you see the dual dimensions of the “individual and corporate” in Ephesians Chapter 2? How might this relate to Ezra 1:1 – 4?)

Hiding From God or Hiding Within God?

“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.”  Psalm 32:5 – 7 (NASB)

What is the oldest game known to mankind?

It is “Hide and Seek”. Ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God we’ve been hiding; hiding from God, hiding from ourselves, hiding from one another. We hide in our families, at our jobs, in our neighborhoods, even at church. (The second-oldest game is the blame game, it is someone else’s fault; Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and we’ve been blaming others for our sins ever since).

In verse 2 of this psalm David writes, “How blessed is the man to whom Yahweh does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” It is indeed a blessing to be delivered from guile and deceit, from wearing a mask, Can we hear Jesus saying to Nathaniel, “Behold, and Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile (deceit)!” John 1:47.

I have known people who thought that they might have cancer, who have had lumps on their body, and yet did not go to the doctor because they didn’t want to have their fears confirmed. When they finally did go to the physician their fears were confirmed but it was too late for effective treatment. It does us no good to hide from our fears, to hide from the lumps in our lives, and it certainly does us no good to hide our iniquities from God. When David hid his sin, he writes (Psalm 32:3-4):

“When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.”

When we acknowledge our sins to God, when we allow the Holy Spirit to bring our sins into the light, then we experience God’s amazing forgiveness. (1 John 1:9 - 2:2)

We can either hide from God as we hide our sins, or we can hide in God in deep relationship with Him.

Is there anything we are hiding from God? Are we hiding from God? Or, are we hiding in God?

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”  Colossians 3:1 – 4.

‘

Seeking the Face of God

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

“When You said, ‘Seek my face’, my heart said to you, ‘Your face, O Yahweh, I shall seek.’” Psalm 27:8

Isn’t this our purpose, our goal, our destiny; to seek the face of God? When we see Him we are transformed into His image (1 John 3:1 – 3). As we cultivate this hope, this hope of seeing Him, a process of purification occurs by the Holy Spirit and we are drawn by God’s grace into the heart of God. The radiance of our Lord Jesus transforms us, purifies us, renews our mind, our heart, our soul – and cleanses us from filth (2 Corinthians 7:1).

As, by God’s grace, we are obedient to His Word, a work of purification takes place in our souls which is manifested as a sincere love for our brothers and sisters (1 Peter 1:22). This can only be because we are born again through the living and abiding and indestructible Word of God (1 Peter 1:23).

O that we would allow nothing in the religious world to distract us from seeking the face of Jesus Christ. That we would say “no” to anything and everything that would draw us away from the Lamb of God. O that we would give our religious playthings up, that we would haul them to the garbage dump…making it clear that we seek Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone; that we seek to make Jesus Christ known, and Him alone.

“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”    1Corinthians 2:2.

Ponderings on 1 Corinthians Chapters 1 – 4 (13)

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;…” 1Corinthians 2:6 – 7 (NASB)

Are we convinced that “God made foolish the wisdom of the world,” (1Cor. 1:20)? Are we convinced that, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men,” (1Cor. 1:25)?

Do we “see” that God is nullifying “the things that are, so that no man may boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:28 – 29)? Are we living in the realization that the rulers of this age are passing away?

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” 1John 2:15 – 17 (NASB).

Consider “the boastful pride of life” in 1 John with the thrust of 1 Corinthians Chapters 1 – 4. The rulers of this age are passing away, the “wisdom” of this age is passing away, indeed the world system is passing away – but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Why then, do we succumb to the pressure and temptation to exchange the epistemology of God in Christ with the epistemology of an age that is passing away? Why do we think we can “know” the things of God without the Spirit of God? Why do we write and teach and preach as if a methodology, in and of itself, can lead us into an understanding of the Scriptures and an encounter with the True and Living God?

Better yet, why do we conform our institutions of learning to the “academy” of this age? Why do we pattern ourselves after that (the academia of the world) which has a faulty and fallen anthropology? Why do we seek credibility according to the standards of the world…standards which not only are constantly changing, but which are often bent on the destruction of the testimony of God in Christ?

Why are our commentaries and small group and Sunday school curriculum patterned, all too often, after the wisdom of this age, rather than that of the Kingdom of God?

I think we have made morons of ourselves (I include myself). How else can we explain the phenomenon of men and women who have been in “church” and Sunday school for years remaining infants in both their general knowledge and understanding of God in Christ revealed in the Bible?

If we maintain the epistemology of the age that is passing away we will remain captives on this “Silent Planet” – (a term from C.S. Lewis). We will be a quiet and complaisant people on a Silent Planet.

God has predestined a hidden wisdom in a mystery “before the ages to our glory” and yet we insist on remaining slaves to an epistemology of darkness and an anthropology of darkness. Paul writes, “The natural (unspiritual/soulish) man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14) and we say, “Yeah but…”

What good is all of our learning if we are not seeing Jesus Christ? If we are not worshipping God in spirit and in truth? We are forging our own chains, what’s worse, we are teaching others the trade.

The Replacement Trinity

Worth pondering:

In his book, Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson writes of “The Replacement Trinity” (page 31).

“Trinitarian thinking/praying before Holy Scripture cultivates a stance and attitude that submits to being comprehensively formed by God in the way God comprehensively and personally reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures. The alternative to that is taking charge of our own formation. The most popular way of conceiving this self these days is by understanding the self in a Trinitarian way…as a divine self in charge of my self. And this divine self is understood as a Holy Trinity.

“Here is how it works. It is important to observe that in the formulation of this new Trinity that defines the self as the sovereign text for living, the Bible is neither ignored nor banned; it holds, in fact, and honored place. But the three-person Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is replaced by a very individualized personal Trinity of my Holy Wants, my Holy Needs, and my Holy Feelings.” (Italics mine).

Which Trinity are we worshiping?

My Bush Burned

My Bush Burned

By Gerhard Frost

My bush burned this morning,

burned and was not consumed,

as I gathered with sisters and

brothers in the faith

for the ultimate act of defiance,

a Christian burial service.

My heart soared and sang

as I joined in the demonstration

and hurled the name of Jesus

into the face of the enemy,

Death

Never have I sensed so deeply

the heaven-sent boldness

of comforting one another

“with the comfort with which

we ourselves are comforted by God”

and taking to the streets again

with other comforted ones

under the defiant benediction.

The bush still burns.

Ponderings on 1 Corinthians Chapters 1 – 4 (12)

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory…”    1 Corinthians 2:6 – 7.

In verse 5 Paul writes “…that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” Is there not an irony that we often exegete this passage according to “the wisdom of men”? We employ our scientific methods to the Divine text, putting it under our historical-critical microscope. We subject Scripture to testing, rather than submit our hearts to be tested by the Holy Spirit and Scripture. We want the Judge to step down from the bench so that we may take His place.

Where might we find the mature so that we might share God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery? In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul writes, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.” And then there is this in Hebrews:

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12 – 14).

Only the Christocentric can respond to this idea of hidden wisdom in a mystery. Only those who are crucified with Christ can cross the threshold of this mysterious wisdom. Only those who cry out to God to deliver them from pride and vanity, and plead to be shown the face of God, can behold Him, in some measure, on the Mount of Transfiguration, can see His glory in the Throne Room. Only those who fear, who deeply and greatly fear, their own ego and self-righteousness can catch a glimpse of the glory of the mysterious wisdom of God.

A dilemma in all of this is that we cannot know our own hearts, so all we can do is to throw ourselves, by the grace of God, on His mercy; asking Him to transform us into the image of His beloved Son, trusting Him to will and to work in us His good pleasure.

The great temptation, when we learn, when we touch the hidden wisdom of God (or better yet are touched by His wisdom), is to make merchandise of that wisdom – to peddle the Word of God, to be puffed up, to consider ourselves something special, to think of ourselves as “insiders”. This is why a deep Christocentricity must be the taproot of our soul lest we turn into Gnostics. Consider Paul’s words to the Colossians:

“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

It must be Christ today, Christ yesterday, and Christ tomorrow. It must be Jesus Christ and Him crucified so that our faith and lives do not rest on the wisdom of men, or the pseudo wisdom of Gnostics (even though they be “Christian” Gnostics), but on the power of God in the Person of Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “…Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”

Lest we think, “That would never happen to me. I would never be puffed up. I can handle God’s mysterious wisdom responsibly”, consider what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:7:

“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”

Well now, if this was the case with Paul, are we fools enough to think that we can touch the mysterious wisdom of God without the extreme danger of exalting ourselves?

Perhaps this danger is greater today than it was in Paul’s time. After all, today we have mass marketing. We have social media. We are driven by numbers and fame (all of course to the glory of God). Why not induce others to marvel at our wisdom and special understanding as we market ourselves and mass produce books and ancillary material? Surely God will understand that it is all for His glory.

Yes, to be sure there is a danger in touching the holy things of God, in being touched by God’s mysterious wisdom in Jesus Christ. Yes, there will always be caricatures of God’s hidden wisdom (hidden in Jesus Christ). But this must not mean that we do not pursue Christ with all that we are, it must not mean that we do not seek Him and His mysterious wisdom, hidden in Him, with all that we are.

It must mean that we live lives that are looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith – it must mean that our lives belong to Him, it must mean that for us life is: Jesus first, Jesus last, Jesus always.