Strangers and Pilgrims

Below is a note I sent to some pastors concerning a recent article regarding a political party that was sent to me and the other pastors in the group. The article, in essence, indicates that humanism is being embraced by the party, while I didn't address humanism in my response, I think the fact is that humanism reigns in all political parties in the U.S. 

I think there is a sense in which this is good news. After all, as Christ, as His Body, while we are in the world we are not of the world (John 17); and we are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) - so perhaps this will help define us.

Plus, I think I would rather have folks be honest about where they are coming from than try to court us and seduce us and manipulate us....as is often the case.

Of course I desire these folks to come to know our Lord Jesus Christ, but I also want our own professing-Christians folks to have a greater sense of identity and definition in Christ...a danger, as I see it, in this is that our folks, rather than being driven deeper into Christ, will be uncritically driven deeper into opposing political parties. 

Is there not a sense, a deep Biblical sense, in which we are strangers and aliens, looking for a city whose Builder and Maker is God? Are we not looking at those things which are unseen as opposed to the things that are seen? What the natural eye sees can divert our attention. I think the world is the world is the world and there is a sense in which the world that would embrace us (for its own purposes) is perhaps more dangerous than the world that would outright reject us for we are more likely to compromise the Gospel and truth and virtue with the former. 

People were sleeping when Hurricane Camille hit VA.

"God will send strong delusion because they received not the love of the truth" (2 Thess. 2). What other explanation is there for what we see around us? "God gave them up" (Romans 1). What other explanation? 

The thing that does truly amaze me is the exponential speed in which all of this is occurring. In terms of my own life in Christ, as well as in my marriage, my life is becoming ever more simpler...for I am being driven into Christ, seeking Him, desiring to see His face, to live in His Presence...

In terms of ministry and witnessing to others...again...things are simpler for me...Jesus first, Jesus last, Jesus always. If I'm in a tsunami I want to pull as many people as I can, by God's grace, into our Place of Safety. I want my congregation to see themselves, as God's People, as His Ark with the door still open.

Love in our Good Shepherd,

Bob 

Reflections on Haggai

I posed some questions on Haggai a few days ago, here are some follow up thoughts on the questions; I'll have one more post with more thoughts.

How many movements are in the second chapter?

I see three movements; 2:1 – 9; 2:9 – 19; 2:20 – 23. While we see different points within each movement, if we look at 2:1, 2:10, and 2:20 we see that these verses initialize each movement. Once we identity the movements we can drill down within each movement.

Yesterday I was pruning our crepe myrtle trees. We have a row of seven crepe myrtles out by the street; when I look at them as a group they look pretty much the same, but as I get close to each one I see different branch structures and patterns, different areas of health and deadwood, and so I prune each according to what I see when I am close to it. I need to prune based on the appearance as a group, how each tree grows in relation to other trees, and how I see each tree when I am solely focused on that tree.

When we are working with a text in order to preach, teach, or facilitate a small group, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us “see” the text from different and integrated perspectives – we want to “hear” the music of the text, see the dance of the text, feel the pulse of the text. We want to drink it, breathe it, taste it, absorb it. We want Holy Scripture to flow through the pores of our very being, to permeate our soul.

What is the emphasis of each movement?

The first movement is one of encouragement, along with a promise that God will shake all things and that God will fill His House with His glory. Note that in verse 5 that God invokes the promise He made during the Exodus, some one thousand years prior to Haggai – God always keeps His promises, His promises, His Covenant, is the foundation for our lives…individually and as a People.

The second movement focuses on the temporal situation with the remnant who have returned from captivity – their disobedience, God’s judgment, their repentance, and God’s blessing.

The third movement echoes the first movement – God will judge the nations and through His judgement He will preserve His people (as represented in Zerubbabel).

How do the movements relate to each other?

The second movement, the temporal situation with the remnant who have returned to Judah and Jerusalem, is bracketed by the first and third movements which look beyond the temporal into the eternal. These two movements see a heavenly people who God is bringing through the shaking of the heavens and the earth. They see a Living Temple (Ephesians Chapter 2, 1 Peter Chapter 2) in whom God’s glory lives in Jesus Christ (John 17).

As much as we might like to look to the past and yearn for the “good old days”, God is saying that the glory of the latter house will be greater than the glory of the former house. Surely on the Day of Pentecost we see the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise in Christ; but even with Pentecost we are looking at the former house, the inception of the Church, the birth of the Church – there are greater glories in Christ yet to come; just as there are greater shakings yet to come.

Reflecting on Haggai

Our Tuesday small group is still in Haggai. Here is what we have for next week. What can you glean from this? Perhaps you will strike a mother lode. 

I'll try to post my own thoughts in response to these questions in the next few days.

There is a rich deposit here...can you find it and share it with others?

Let’s please reflect on Haggai Chapter 2.

How many movements are in this chapter?

What is the emphasis of each movement?

How do the movements relate to each other?

Compare 2:3 with Ezra 3:10 – 13.

Compare 2:6- 7, and 2:20 – 23 with Hebrews 12:25 – 29: how do these passages relate to each other?

Compare 2:5 – 9 with Hebrews 12:18 – 24: how do these passages relate to each other?

How does Daniel Chapter 2 relate to the above passages?

How do the above passages relate to us today? To the Church, the People of God?

How should we interpret events around us in light of these passages?

How should we live in light of these passages?

Reflections in Haggai

My Tuesday-morning men's group begins Haggai next week. Here is the hand-out I sent them yesterday. While Haggai is embedded in my soul, I have not looked forward to walking the guys through this prophet because of the pain it brings me.

When I see the situation in Haggai and look around me today I see the same self-centeredness, the same disregard for the Temple of God, the same "me first" thinking in the church (the Temple) - and it breaks my heart.

We seldom think as one people in the Trinity - if ever. We seldom even give lip-service to the idea that we are members of the Body of Christ. Our individualistic view of salvation, our failure to see that Jesus Christ birthed a new People, our refusal to take the Bible seriously (even in those churches which profess a high-view of Scripture), our privatization of salvation and sanctification (which really is part and parcel of salvation), our persistent insistence in being the center of everything rather than being Christocentric...well...just saying.

We were saved from sin to be living stones in the Temple, just as the Jews of Haggai's time were set free from captivity to rebuild the City and the Temple. But we'd never know it from the sermons we hear, the books we buy, the decisions we make.

Here's what I sent the men:

For the next few weeks we’re going to explore the prophet Haggai, for while Haggai consists of only two chapters, these two chapters ought to challenge us regarding our commitment to Jesus Christ and our assumptions that influence the way we live.

Keep in mind that the reason we read Ezra (and hopefully we also read Nehemiah) was to set the stage for Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. We can’t have an appreciation for these three prophets unless we understand the setting in which they served.

Throughout our meditation on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi there is one critical thought that we should always keep in mind: the one and only reason the Jewish people were set free from exile was to rebuild the Temple and City of God and to worship God in His Temple and in His City. If we don’t see this we might as well tear these prophets out of the Bible. To refresh our memory: Daniel 9:1 – 3, 24 – 25; Ezra 1:1 – 4; Isaiah 44:28 – 45:3.

With this in mind, what is the historical situation in Haggai Chapter 1? What is the problem with the people of Judah?

Note that the “word of Yahweh” comes via Haggai to the civil (Zerubbabel) and religious (Joshua) leaders. Both spheres of leadership are responsible for the disobedience of the people. (Haggai 1:1).

Now I want to ask us, “How important is the Temple of God to us? How important is the Body of Christ? How important is the Church?”

I’m not talking about a social organization, I’m talking about Ephesians 2:13 – 22; 4:11 – 16; 1 Corinthians Chapter 12; 1 Peter 2:4 - 10…to name just a few of many passages.

As we used to say in the days of the Jesus People, “The church is not an organization, it is an organism.” A foreign thought to most Christians.

From Genesis through Revelation we see God working with a people, speaking to a people, redeeming a people, seeking a Temple to dwell within, seeking a many-membered Son showing forth and glorifying the Only Begotten Son. The Bible culminates in a People radiating the Glory of God in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. (Note John 12:24 and our unity in the Trinity that Jesus prays for in John Chapter 17).

So then, are we or are we not like the people in Haggai Chapter 1?

Are we putting the Temple of God, the People of God, the Living House of God before our own houses, our own interests, our own agendas, our own comforts?

Or…are we living as the Jews did in Haggai Chapter 1? Saying it isn’t time to devote ourselves to God’s Trajectory? It isn’t time to sacrifice ourselves for our brothers and sisters? Is isn’t time to be “all-in” for the Temple of God?

The Jews were squandering the freedom they had been given, what are we doing? Christ has set us free from sin and given us eternal life – are we living as independent agents or are we living as slaves (bond-servants) of Jesus Christ?

Are our lives our own, to do with as we see fit – or are we focused on God’s Temple and are we accountable to one another in Jesus Christ?

Just saying…just saying…just reading the Bible…maybe we should tear these three prophets out…after all, so much of our “Christian” culture and church culture teaches that life is all about us.

Eugene Peterson has written about a new Holy Trinity, a new Holy Text:

“The most popular way of conceiving this self these days is by understanding the self in a Trinitarian way. This way of self-understanding is not as an intellectual interested in ideas or as a moral being seeking a good life or as a soul looking for solitary solace, but as a divine self in charge of my self. And this divine self is understood as a Holy Trinity.

“Here’s 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 or banned; it holds, in fact, and honored place. But the three-personal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is replaced by a very individualized personal Trinity of my Holy Wants, my Holy Needs, and my Holy Feelings.” (Eat This Book, page 31).

Which Trinity do we serve?

Just saying….