God's Love Misunderstood (Part 2)

In the last blog, it was claimed that God's love as portrayed in the Bible is more complicated (and multifaceted) than many of us realize. But unfortunately, most Christian people would sum up God's love with one simple word: unconditional. And it is from this label that has come the popular statement, "God hates the sin but loves the sinner." However, many Bible passages convey God's love as conditional toward sinners (Jude 21) and several passages even tell us point blank that God hates sinners (Psalm 5). And so we must ask ourselves, "Is 'unconditional' the best way to describe God's love?" I am convinced that this label is more confusing and misleading than helpful. Here's why...

THE DANGERS OF THE 'UNCONDITIONAL' LABEL
Those of us who defend God's love as being summarily 'unconditional' might unknowingly be encouraging universalism. Let me explain. If God's love is summarily 'unconditional' then the universalists have got the message of salvation right: Jesus died based on an unconditional love for all people and so no one can be eternally condemned based on any conditions. Why? That would violate the unconditionalness of God's love! And so Jesus lovingly saves everyone without condition; All roads must lead to God (and are actually irrelevant); Hell is just a myth; And a love devoid of justice ultimately wins; PERIOD. But we know that this is NOT what the Bible teaches. Maybe this is why the Bible never tells us that God's love is 'unconditional.' This label would contradict the very message of salvation, a message that encapsulates God's love for all of humanity! Why? Salvation has a condition: repentance from sin.

JOHN 3:16 AND GOD'S LOVE
But maybe you're thinking, "John 3:16 says that God loved the entire world and therefore sent His son to die for sinners. And Romans 5:8 tells us that Jesus died for us WHILE we were still sinners. Don't these verses indicate that God's love is unconditional?" Well, they certainly teach us that Jesus' death WAS an undeserved expression of God's love for ALL of humanity. But while this expression of love might demonstrate to us that God's love has 'unconditionally' PURSUED us, it doesn't seem to demonstrate that God's love 'unconditionally' ACCEPTS us. Because according to John 3:16, salvation has a condition: belief.

Additionally, while John 3:16 clearly teaches that God HAS extravagantly LOVED the world in the PAST through Jesus, we need to ask ourselves this question, "Does John 3:16 also teach us that God will ALWAYS love ALL of humanity without condition in the FUTURE?" John 3:17 certainly makes this a possibility. It indicates that God did NOT send Jesus in the past to condemn the world (but rather to save the world). But then John 3:18 tells us that whoever does not believe in Jesus stands condemned. This is reiterated in John 5:22 which teaches that IN THE FUTURE Jesus will judge and condemn the world. How are these seemingly contradictory verses to be held together? This (in my opinion) is where verses like Jude 21 and Psalm 5 bring further clarity to the nature of God's love.

And so John 3:16 clearly teaches us that God's love is AVAILABLE to all people in the world. That God's love is SELF-GIVING. That God's love has PURSUED sinners and saints alike. And that God's love is extremely GRACIOUS. But does it teach that God's love is SUMMARILY unconditional? I leave that conclusion up to you (but please don't ignore John 3:18!).

JEREMIAH 31:3 AND GOD'S LOVE
But wait a minute. God's love is said to be 'everlasting' (hb: olam) in Jeremiah 31:3. So how can an EVERLASTING love ever STOP loving humanity? Answer: It can't and it doesn't. But just because God's love is permanent (or everlasting) does not mean that His love is unconditional.

How can this be? Well, the permanence of God's love is expressed CORPORATELY (not individually) in Jeremiah 31:3. As we've already seen, God's everlasting love is CORPORATELY lavished on humanity (John 3:16a) but must be INDIVIDUALLY appropriated to be received (John 3:16b). And so this is why God can say in Exodus 20:6, "But I lavish UNFAILING (hb: olam) love (hb: hesed) for a thousand generations ON THOSE WHO LOVE ME AND OBEY MY COMMANDS." In this way, God never stops loving humanity even though He can stop loving defiantly disobedient INDIVIDUALS!

And so in Jeremiah 31:3, God's love has withstood Israel's CORPORATE acts of disobedience. But does this mean that God's love has been manifested without condition to every INDIVIDUAL Israelite person? NO. How do we know this? It appears that in the context of Jeremiah 31:3, God's everlasting love will only be experienced by those who "survived the sword" (31:2), to "Virgin Israel" (31:4), to "the remnant Israel" (31:7).

So who exactly are those who died by the sword? Who is the non-Virgin Israel? You have to go all the way back to Jeremiah 29:15-19 to find this out. They are those who did not listen to God's words (29:19) and did "outrageous things" such as commit adultery with their neighbors' wives (29:23). These Israelites were DEFIANT sinners. And so they were treated by the Lord like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire (29:22). Did these defiant INDIVIDUALS experience God's EVERLASTING love? It certainly doesn't sound like it.

So does this mean that God's love is really NOT everlasting? I don't think so. Let me explain. Imagine I told you that I will NEVER STOP loving my home state of Illinois but that I don't love the traffic in Chicago, does this mean that I have stopped loving Illinois? NO. Just because I love the state of Illinois does not mean that I am required to love ever INDIVIDUAL detail about the state. I can love Illinois and still hate the Chicago traffic. The same is true when it comes to God's everlasting love. Just because He loves THE WORLD does not mean that He is required to love every INDIVIDUAL in the world. In this way, God's love for humanity is EVERLASTING.

THE BOTTOM LINE
And so God can love the world with an everlasting love and still hate the defiant sinner. To some, this makes God sound mean and intolerant. And the truth is that God is intolerant when it comes to people who intentionally set out to ruin His world through their defiant sin. But we must not let God's intolerance of evil overshadow the greatness of His love. Because even though God's love may not be unconditional, it is still gracious, self-giving, available to all people, relentlessly pursuant, and everlasting (...and the list could go on). In short, God's love is extravagant even though it is not unconditional. So then why does rejecting the notion that God's love is unconditional make so many evangelical Christians uneasy? We'll look into this question in the next blog.

God's Love Misunderstood (Part 1)

Somewhere along the line, the idea of God's love as being "unconditional" crept into the Christian vocabulary. So where did this concept of God's love come from? The Bible? Bible scholars? NOPE. This term is never used in the Holy Scriptures and neither was it acquired from Biblical scholarship. So where did it come from? To the best of my knowledge, it originated with the pop psychologist Erich Fromm in the 1930's. He ultimately wrote the book The Art of Love (1956) that laid out various stages of love. According to Fromm, love reaches its pinnacle with "Motherly Love." And to quote Fromm, "Mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved." In other words, Motherly Love is unconditional and separates the individual from his or her behavior. So is this how Christians should understand God's love? Does God love the sinner even though He hates the sin? Does God's love reach the pinnacle of love based on Fromm's standards? Let's take a look at what the Bible says.

GOD'S LOVE IS AGAPE
When talking of God's love, many begin with the classical Greek distinctions of love: storge, eros, philia, and agape. How do these words differ in meaning? Agape refers to a selfless love that expects nothing in return. Eros refers to a romantic love based in emotion and physical beauty. Philia is a loyalty shared between friends that involves some level of give and take from both people. Storge is a natural affection between two people such as a mother and daughter. So the question is, "Does the Bible uphold these distinctions or like most languages, were these fine, surgical semantical differences lost over time (and before the New Testament was written)?"

Many point to John 21:15-19 as a proof that these distinctions remained intact at the time of the New Testament's writing. In this passage, Jesus asks Peter, "Do you agape me more than these?" Peter replies, "You know that I philia you" to which Jesus replies, "Feed my arnia (sheep)." Not satisfied Jesus asks again, "Do you agape me?" to which Peter replies, "Lord, you know I philia you." Jesus reiterates, "Take care of my probata (sheep)." Jesus asks a THIRD time, "Simon, do you philia me?" Peter responds, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I philia you." Jesus repeats for the THIRD time, "Feed my probata." Is Jesus challenging Peter to a greater agape love only to settle for the only love Peter is willing to offer, philia love? If the distinctions of classical Greek hold up, this would be the appropriate conclusion.

However, in light of the fact that John also uses two terms to refer to "sheep" (arnia and probata) in these same verses, many believe that his interchange between philia and agape is merely stylistic. This conclusion is reinforced by the observation that Jesus' THREEFOLD questioning of Peter's love for Him parallels Peter's THREEFOLD denial of Jesus before His crucifixion. Therefore, based on this explanation, Jesus isn't repeating the same question with the hope that Peter will commit to a higher type of love in his relationship with Jesus (agape vs. philia). NO. Peter is being subtly challenged to follow Jesus no matter the cost and refuse to deny Jesus ever again. And this explanation seems very plausible. And so, John 21:15-19 (in my opinion) does not provide an airtight argument that proves the various Greek terms for love maintain their classical distinctions in the New Testament.

Far more informative (in my opinion) is Jude 21 which says, "keep yourselves in God's agape as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." This verse certainly sounds like people (even professing, "called" Christians! - Jude 1) can stand outside of God's agape (if, as most conclude, 'the love of God' is understood in this verse as a subjective genitive). That doesn't sound very unconditional or "motherly" to me. And John 15:10 adds fuel to the fire (literally; see John 15:6). It says, "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my agape." It certainly appears that God's agape love (in this verse) requires something in return! If true, the classical Greek distinctions of love appear to have been flattened (or at least diluted) to some degree by the time of the New Testament. And as a result, context (and not an appeal to classical Greek) is what should drive our understanding of the word agape. And as we've seen, agape can be laden with conditionality in certain contexts.

IS GOD'S LOVE ONLY CONDITIONAL?
But maybe you're thinking, "God sent His son to die for the world while we were still sinners because He loves the world in some 'unconditional' sense (John 3:16; Romans 5:8); and the Bible implies that no one can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:35-39); and even the Old Testament claims that God's love is 'everlasting' (Jeremiah 31:3). Certainly these verses must be factored into the equation." And you would be right. These verses do need to be considered when trying to understand God's love. But unfortunately, these verses have received all of the limelight and completely overshadowed verses like Jude 21. And as a result, the Bible's portrayal of God's love has been oversimplified in our day and age. But we must understand that God's love as portrayed in Scripture is more nuanced than most of us realize! D.A. Carson's book, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, exposes the complexity and various contours of God's love!

And so in the next blog, we will look deeper into the various nuances of God's love and specifically the verses that many people use to support the 'unconditionality' of God's love.

Paul and the Danger of Parallelomania

There is a very common Bible study practice out there today called Parallelomania. What is it exactly? It's a type of Biblical interpretation that finds hidden meanings in the Biblical text using historical details and cultural practices (usually from rabbinic traditions like the Mishnah or Greek and Roman culture). Let me give you an example from a recent book I read. Here's what the book described:

During the Jewish Passover, each Jewish family would put the family name around the neck of their lamb they were taking to the Temple to be sacrificed. Well, when Jesus, the Lamb of God, was on the cross, a sign was hung over his head that read, "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews." Interestingly, in paintings of Jesus' crucifixion you will find the initials 'INRI'. These are the first letters of each of the nouns in the inscription in Latin ("Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum"). When this phrase is translated into Biblical Hebrew the inscription would read: "Y'Shua HaNatzri V'Melech HaYehudim." When you take the first letter of each of these words you get "YHVH", the name of God! Jesus is the Son of God!

Sounds pretty amazing doesn't it! But really all it amounts to is a Biblical fallacy. Why? First, the New Testament authors don't translate this phrase into Biblical Hebrew to make this point. They easily could have done this but they didn't! In fact, most of the Biblical authors give an abbreviated version of what the sign on Jesus' cross read: King of the Jews. And Mark even makes it clear that this inscription described the charge against Jesus (not a hidden reference to the name of God).

Second, notice that the Latin translation does not include any definite articles ("the") or conjunctions ("and"). It literally reads, "Jesus Nazareth King Jews." But the supposed Hebrew translation given here literally reads, "Jesus THE Nazarene AND King of THE Jews." "Ha" is a definite article in Hebrew that is not always needed and the "V" is a conjunction ("and") that isn't even in the Biblical greek phrase to begin with. If you want to compare apples to apples (that is, Latin to Hebrew) then the Hebrew phrase (without the definite articles or conjunction) would be "Y'Shua Natzri Melech Yehudim." And this translation doesn't register the name of God using the first letter of each of these nouns! This is Parallelomania in action! And it is thoughtlessly embraced by many.

THE HIDDEN DANGER OF PARALLELOMANIA
Why am I making such a big deal of this errant Bible study method? Here's why. Parallelomania adds uninspired meaning to the text that the inspired authors (and by extension God) never intended to communicate! As D.A. Carson bluntly puts it in his book Exegetical Fallacies,

Conceptual parallelomania is particularly inviting to those who have taken advanced training in a specialized field (psychology, sociology, some area of history, philosophy, education) but who have no more than a serious Sunday-school knowledge of the Scriptures. Many of the specialists who fall into these fallacies are devout believers who want to relate the Bible to their discipline. They think they have a much firmer grasp of Scripture than they do; and the result is frequently appalling nonsense.  

Adding historical details to unearth new or hidden meaning in the Bible is an abuse to God's inspired Word (sorry if that sounds harsh!). Historical backgrounds should only be used to help clarify the details already in the text (not used to add new details!).

Let me give you another example to help clarify further what I mean. I recently read a book on the Jewish Feasts in Leviticus. Here are the details and hidden meaning given regarding the manner in which the Paschal lamb for the Passover Feast was prepared:

The Paschal lamb was roasted upright on a pomegranate pole with a crossbar through its shoulders. This would obviously bring to mind the cross of Jesus. But not only this, the entrails were tied around the head so everything could be roasted evenly without boiling (which was prohibited). This, of course, resembled Jesus' crown of thorns. Jesus was truly our Paschal Lamb who died on the cross and wore a crown of thorns!

Wow! This is an exciting teaching! Jesus' crucifixion was predicted (or at least pictured) in the Passover Feast! But wait. There is a problem here. Even though lots of details are given in the inspired book of Exodus regarding the protocol for preparing the Passover lamb, none of these "historical," Jesus-esce details or practices are mentioned. NO. Rather, this information is based on debatable historical "facts" from Justin Martyr (a person who was alive in the 2nd century, well after the time of Jesus and the destruction of the Temple and its sacrificial system). Parallelomania is certainly capable of jumpstarting a person's interest in the Bible but the irony is that it is grounded in extra-Biblical sources (that is, its information comes from outside of the Bible). This violates the principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone).

PAUL'S LETTERS
So how does Parallelomania relate to where we are at in the Eat this Book Challenge? SIMPLE. There have been some Parallelomania trends surfacing regarding Paul's letters to the Philippians and Colossians. These parallels have centered around the prominence of the imperial cult (that is, the worship of Caesar) during the time of Paul. Paul certainly uses some political terms in his letter to the Philippians in verses 1:27 (politeuesthe; "exercise your citizenship") and 3:20 (politeuma). Paul also describes Jesus as Savior (2:5-11) even though this is not one of his common titles for Jesus.

Because of this, many believe that the profession "Jesus is Lord" is in response to the proclamation "Caesar is Lord" that Roman citizens were expected to make. Based on this interpretation, Paul wants believers to worship Jesus and not the Roman Caesar. The problem surfaces when this Roman background is generalized to the point that Paul is understood as ONLY confronting the influence of the imperial cult in the lives of Christian believers in his letter to the Philippians. While there might be a hint of truth to this interpretation, the term politeuesthe can also be traced to Jewish sources where it means "following the Jewish way of life." And Paul does, in fact, show in his letter to the Philippians that he is primarily concerned about wayward Jewish influences that have surfaced in the church. We see this when he mentions "the circumcision" in Philippians 3:3. And so Paul is NOT writing primarily to confront the imperial cult (and the same is true in Paul's letter to the Colossians)! But Parallelomania would have you believe otherwise (just check out the book Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire)!

THE BOTTOM LINE
Many people embrace Parallelomania (in my opinion) because they have become bored with the Bible and therefore want something "deeper," something "new," something "novel." In other words, they've heard all of the same Bible stories before (that is, they've been over-churched) and want something "new" to spice up their Christianity. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad with wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Scripture! But what people often fail to realize is that maybe they've grown bored because they are not living out what they already know from the Bible. And so they don't need to learn more. NO. They just need to put what they already know into action and transition from being primarily "takers" to becoming "givers", from "disciples" to "disciple-makers." This doesn't mean that you completely stop "taking." NO. But it does mean that you begin passing on what you have come to know about following Jesus to the next generation. This includes both "head" knowledge and knowledge in "action." And so my prayer is that you would resist the allure of Parallelomania and find excitement Jesus' way (the old fashioned way!): By being a disciple of Jesus and making disciples for Jesus!

Romans and Paul's Confrontation With Disunity (Part 2)

In the first half of Paul's letter to the Romans (chapters 1-11), Paul establishes the fact that there is no room for BOASTING in the gospel. Why?

1.) All humans are GUILTY SINNERS, not just the unclean Gentiles or the rebellious Israelites (1:18-3:20).
2.) God's RIGHTEOUSNESS doesn't come through Jewish birthright or works of the Law but rather through Jesus' death on the cross (3:21-5:21).
3.) Life transformation is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT and not manufactured through human effort (6:1-8:39).
4.) God's PROMISE of salvation is available to ALL humanity, not just an elite few (9:1-11:36).

So how does Paul APPLY the gospel message to confront the disunity that exists within the church at Rome? Here's how...

POINT #2: WHEN WE TRULY UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL, WE STOP BOASTING AND START SERVING AND SUBMITTING!

According to Paul, the gospel message promotes a life of humility which creates unity among believers. And so in the second half of his letter to the Romans [the imperative section], Paul calls the church to a life of humility. Check out these verses...

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship. (12:1)

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (12:3)

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor...contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (12:9, 13)

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. (12:16)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. (13:1)

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (13:8)

As for the weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. (14:1)

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer [on matters of food or drink etc.], but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. (14:13)

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (14:19)

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up...May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus that you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (15:2, 5-7) 

THE BOTTOM LINE
The gospel message (when understood correctly) leaves no room for self-promotion. And when we stop promoting ourselves, we can begin building others up through sincere acts of encouragement. This was Paul's hope in his letter to the Romans: That unity would be restored as people more accurately understood themselves in light of the gospel.

And so may a bond of unity be established and grow between you and others as you better understand yourself in light of the gospel message. And as a result, may you find yourself loving others extravagantly!

Romans and Paul's Confrontation With Disunity (Part 1)

In the last blog, it was claimed that Romans is NOT a theological treatise and that Paul's purpose for writing is very practical: He is setting out to confront disunity within the church at Rome. However, there is no doubt that Paul clearly lays out the theological message of the gospel in the first half of his letter to the Romans. So how does Paul use the gospel message (in a practical, non-academic way) to confront the disunity within the church at Rome? Let's find out...

POINT #1: THE GOSPEL MESSAGE DOES NOT ALLOW FOR BOASTING [Romans 1-11]
Romans 1:18-3:20
From the get-go, Paul makes it clear that he is going to lay out the gospel message when he says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." And then in Romans 1:18-3:20, Paul makes the case that ALL of mankind (both Jew and Gentile) has SINNED against God and will be judged accordingly (see especially 2:9-11).

Now, many Jews assumed that they had acquired God's favor simply because they were circumcised according to the LAW, but Paul dispels this Jewish myth by making it clear that ALL Jews are GUILTY because they have broken the LAW (2:17-29). They are not as LAW-abiding as they think. In a similar vein, non-Jewish people might argue that they are not GUILTY of sin because they were not given the LAW and therefore are ignorant of God's requirements. But Paul reveals to them that God still has grounds to find them GUILTY of sin: a person's God-given conscience (2:12-16). And therefore, ALL non-Jews are GUILTY of breaking the LAW. What is Paul's point?

ALL humanity has SINNED against God and is in need of forgiveness. And so the gospel message doesn't allow for BOASTING!

Romans 3:21-5:21
After establishing the fact that ALL of mankind is guilty of rebellion against God, Paul makes the case that ALL of mankind can receive RIGHTEOUSNESS through faith in Jesus alone. What is RIGHTEOUSNESS? It is a legal term that means to declare someone NOT guilty of an offense or sin. And so people are found to be RIGHTEOUS when the courts rule in their favor and exonerate them.

But according to Romans 3:27-31, God doesn't declare us RIGHTEOUS based on our good religious works (especially works of the law like circumcision). God's RIGHTEOUSNESS is a gift (3:21-25) that we receive by demonstrating Abraham-like faith toward God (4:1-3)! But Abraham was very much law-abiding. So how do we know that he was saved by faith and not by his law-abiding works? Well, Paul points out that he was declared RIGHTEOUS through his faith before he was circumcised (4:9-25). And so circumcision [and by extension being a law-abiding Jew] does not make someone RIGHTEOUS in God's eyes. What is Paul's point?

RIGHTEOUSNESS is a FREE gift from God that declares a person forgiven (5:15). And so the gospel message doesn't allow for BOASTING!

Romans 6:1-8:39
But righteousness (a.k.a. justification) is only half of the gospel message! The other half of the gospel message is that "the law of the SPIRIT of life has set us free in Christ Jesus" (8:2). Sure we receive forgiveness from our sin through God's righteousness but the gospel also promises to produce life transformation (a.k.a. sanctification) in us through God's grace of the HOLY SPIRIT (that is, God's presence in our lives). According to Paul, we can consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (6:11) because we are no longer "under the law" but rather "under grace" (6:14).

But what does it mean to be "under grace"? Romans 7:6 gives us some insight when it says, "But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the SPIRIT and not in the old way of the written code." Being "under grace" means living under the power and influence of the SPIRIT (not under the old way of the written code)! Paul proves to us in Romans 7 that life under the LAW is self-defeating. But now God offers us a new way to live, under the grace of His SPIRIT (Romans 8)! And so the SPIRIT is a manifestation of God's grace just as much as Jesus' death on the cross. One brings forgiveness and the other brings life transformation. And both are undeserved gifts (that is, graces) from God. So what is Paul's point?

The SPIRIT is a FREE gift from God that produces life transformation. And so the gospel message doesn't allow for BOASTING!

Romans 9:1-11:36
Paul then concludes [the indicative section] by reinforcing the fact that BOTH Jews and Gentiles have equal access to God's Old Testament promises (which all culminated in the person of Jesus; 10:4). In Romans 11:13-24, Paul makes his point by using the illustration of an olive tree:

A wild olive shoot (that is, the Gentile people) has been grafted into the olive tree (the Jewish people) and now is able to share in its nourishing root (the promises made to the Old Testament patriarchs) of the olive tree. At the same time, some of the branches (Jewish people) have been broken off of the olive tree because of their unbelief (11:19-22) but can be grafted back in if they do not continue in their rebellion (11:23). And so both Jew and Gentile have access to the 'root' BUT access is only available through belief in Jesus.

So what does this illustration tell us? The Jewish people have not been completely replaced by the church (as many Covenantal theologians teach) but neither are Gentiles seen as completely distinct from the Jewish people (as Classic Dispensationalists in the spirit of Charles Ryrie teach). NO. Both Jews and Gentiles have been UNIFIED under God's Old Testament promises (which culminated in the person of Jesus). So what is Paul's point?

God's promises and salvation are available to BOTH Jews and non-Jews. And so the gospel message doesn't allow for BOASTING!

So how does Paul apply the theological message of the gospel to the situation in the church at Rome? We'll find out in the next blog...

Romans: Introductory Thoughts

Pride and boasting. These are certainly trademarks of the American culture today. But they are nothing new! Pride and boasting also existed in the culture of the early church. And they created the same results that they do today: disunity and division. And we all know that a house divided cannot stand. This is why we find Paul so intentional about confronting disunity within the church in most of his letters. And his letter to the Romans is no exception. It is a letter written with this very practical purpose in mind.

WHAT ROMANS IS NOT
But many people today believe that the book of Romans is a theological treatise where Paul lays out his understanding of the gospel of Jesus to gain the approval of the church in Rome (so that they would support his missionary endeavors to Spain). But Romans (if understood in its entirety) does not read like this. It is not a theology textbook.

How do I know this? Well, just like most of Paul's other letters, Romans is divided into two parts, often referred to by scholars as Paul's indicative-imperative structure. What does this mean? Paul usually begins his letters with a grouping of statements of fact [in the indicative mood]. He then instructs the church by applying these facts to the life of the church [in the imperative mood]. This is the nuts and bolts of the indicative-imperative structure. And it reveals to us that Paul desires for the church to not only uphold good theology BUT also (and more importantly) to put good theology into real-life practice. This is the essence of a Bible-believing church according to Paul and this is at the heart of ALL of Paul's letters!

While Romans may not be a theological treatise, there is no doubt that Paul clearly lays out the theological message of the gospel in the first half of his letter to the Romans. So how does Paul use the gospel message (in a practical, non-academic way) to confront the disunity within the church at Rome? We'll look into this in the next blog...

Acts: The Spirit-Empowered Spread of God's Word

The book of Acts is about the supernatural spread of God's Word beginning in Jerusalem (with the Jewish people) and spreading to the ends of the earth (to all types of non-Jewish people). And while the book of Acts is primarily descriptive (and therefore not necessarily prescribing how the church should function today), it does provide a picture of what a community of Christ-followers can look like and accomplish when empowered by God's Spirit! So what does a Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers look like? Let's find out.

#1 A COMMUNITY THAT RELIES COMPLETELY ON JESUS
By definition, a Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers is completely reliant on Jesus. In fact, the book of Acts gives the impression that Jesus is controlling the success of His plan through His Spirit (and sometimes 'angels FROM the Lord') from His seat at the right hand of the Father. Where do we see this? The Lord Jesus is the one "adding to their numbers daily" (2:47) as "His hand is with His followers" (11:21). The angels FROM the Lord are the ones who (among other things) open up the jail to rescue God's people (5:19; see also 8:26; 10:3, 7, 22; 11:13; 12:7-11, 23; 27:23). The Spirit of the Lord is providing guidance to His people (16:7). The Spirit of the Lord is making people receptive to the gospel message (16:14). Clearly Jesus is present among His followers through His Spirit. Why should we believe anything has changed since then? And so it only makes sense that God's people would fervently rely on Jesus (even today)!

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#2 A COMMUNITY THAT BRINGS THE GOSPEL TO OTHERS
The book of Acts is also a story about the successful spread of the WORD of the Lord (that is, the gospel message). Check out how many times the WORD (gr: both rama and logos) is referenced (2:41; 4:4, 29, 31; 5:20; 6:2, 4, 7; 8:4, 14, 25; 10:36, 44; 11:1, 19; 12:24; 13:5, 7, 44, 46, 48, 49; 14:3, 25; 15:7, 35, 36; 16:6, 32; 17:11, 13; 18:11; 19:10, 20). In fact, Isaiah 55:10-11 seems to form the backdrop for this successful spread of the WORD of the Lord. How so? God's WORD goes out and does not return empty (or void) but rather accomplishes God's purposes (this is especially evident on Paul's first missionary journey!).

This is what we see in the book of Acts: God desires His WORD to spread to the ends of the earth and this is precisely what happens. But notice something important. God doesn't accomplish this with a magic wand. NO. He uses His people to spread the WORD of the Lord! In fact, after Stephen's stoning (Acts 7-8), it's almost as though God FORCES his people to GO and spread the WORD. And so we see that this Spirit-empowered community of Christ-followers proactively spreads the WORD of the Lord by courageously engaging outsiders because they know that God is in control and that His WORD-decrees will never fail. This is what authentic faith looks like!

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#3 A COMMUNITY THAT PREACHES THE COMPLETE GOSPEL
We find the church in the book of Acts preaching a complete gospel. What do I mean by this? Well, today it seems like ‘the forgiveness of sin’ gets all the emphasis in the gospel message. But according to the book of Acts, this is only half of the equation. While the gospel message in the book of Acts clearly includes ‘the forgiveness of sin’ (2:38; 5:31; 13:38; 26:18), the kingdom of God (that is, God’s transforming rule in this world) is also vital to the message (1:3; 8:12; 19:8; 28:23; 28:31).

So why does this matter? Simple. The ‘forgiveness of sin’ is what we need to ENTER the kingdom of God BUT God wants more for us that this! God wants us to live transformed lives as His kingdom people! And understanding the ‘kingdom of God’ helps us know how to LIVE this way. And so a Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers will not just teach ‘the forgiveness of sin.’ NO. That risks leading to ‘easy believe-ism’ and ‘cheap grace.’ A Spirit-empowered group of Christ-followers will preach a complete gospel by emphasizing BOTH forgiveness and sanctification (that is, kingdom living). After all, the end-goal of the gospel is NOT the forgiveness of sin (which is nothing more than a fire insurance policy)…it is kingdom living (that is, sanctification or being set apart for God’s pleasure and purposes).

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#4 A COMMUNITY THAT ABANDONS ALL TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL 
The early church was characterized by total abandonment to Jesus' cause. How so? They were constantly looking out for the needs and well-being of others. This is why they shared their possessions with each other ‘as any had need’ (2:45; 4:34)! And so when someone had a need, the community would chip in by selling their possessions until the need was met. Sure this is descriptive (and therefore NOT prescriptive) BUT this is the type of thing that happens in a Spirit-empowered community! Why would we NOT want our churches today to show this same level of concern for others? 

What else characterizes a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers?

#5 A COMMUNITY THAT DESIRES TO REACH ALL PEOPLE
The early church was about the business of reaching ALL types of people. The movement of Jesus began in a familiar location, Jerusalem. But then it spread to a whole bunch of unclean, sketchy people: an Ethiopian eunuch in Samaria (Acts 8), a Gentile centurion (Acts 10-11), and then all the way to Rome. This might not sound like a big deal BUT devout Jewish people at this time did not associate with these types of people. But the early church followed God’s leading and reached out to ALL people without prejudice. This allowed for God’s plan from the Old Testament to continue to advance beginning with the reuniting of the divided kingdom (Judea-Samaria) and ending with the blessings of God spreading to ALL nations. What does this teach us? When God’s people are selective in who they are willing to reach, the spread of God’s Word is stalled (or at least slowed down). We need to move the gospel outside of our Jerusalem (usually a church building or Christian fellowship) and bring the hope of the gospel to ALL types of people!

May the church today be characterized as a group of Spirit-empowered Christ-followers!

Luke: God's Plan and Money

Money. Fame. Power. These are some of the highest values in our culture today. If you don't believe me then just look at who we treat as our modern day heroes: Hollywood stars, CEO's, professional athletes. What do these people have in common? You guessed it! Success. Status. Gold toilet seats.

Many have claimed that this obsession with success and status has eroded the value that we place on our teachers, pastors, police workers, firefighters and even JESUS. Why? Low Pay. Low Notoriety. Low Status. Who wants to settle for these? Because of this, many have tried to increase Jesus' status by airbrushing Him with a new, Hollywood image. "Believe in Jesus and He'll fill up your storehouses with rich material blessings." "Follow Jesus and you'll have your best life now." "Aaron Rogers follows Jesus and so why don't you?" But Luke will have none of this. In fact, in his gospel, Luke presents money, fame, and power as some of Jesus' primary nemeses. Let's take a look...

JESUS CAME TO SAVE ALL PEOPLE
While the Gospel of Luke shares many of the same themes as the other three gospels (conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders, Jesus as the Son FROM God, and 'the first shall be last' nature of Jesus' kingdom), Luke makes his own unique contribution. More than any other gospel, Luke sets out to demonstrate that Jesus and His kingdom are available to ALL people (not just Israel). This is made most obvious by the fact that Luke's genealogy emphasizes Jesus' connection with ALL humanity as the son of Adam.

But also, Luke's geographic structure of his gospel (that continues through the book of Acts) makes it clear that Jesus and His kingdom are available to ALL people. The story of Jesus begins in Galilee and journeys to Jerusalem where Jesus ultimately dies and is raised from the dead. And then in the book of Acts (the sequel to Luke's gospel), the Word of God travels from Jerusalem to Judea/Samaria until it reaches the ends of the earth.

And as the Word of God travels, it reaches ALL types of people. The Word of God first comes to a Jewish priest (Zechariah), then to a woman (Mary), then to a group of lowly shepherds, an Ethiopian eunuch from Samaria (see Isaiah 56:3-8 for the significance of eunuchs in God's plan) and finally unclean Gentiles. What is Luke trying to communicate? Jesus and His kingdom are NOT limited to the Jewish religious establishment. NO. They are available to ALL people: Jew, Gentile, the blind, the sick, the unclean, the rich, and the poor. This is why Jesus quotes from the Old Testament at the beginning of His ministry:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

This quote from Isaiah 61 demonstrates that Jesus is continuing God's plan from the Old Testament, a plan which sets out to reach and rescue ALL people.

JESUS CAME TO CONTINUE GOD'S OLD TESTAMENT PLAN
But rescuing ALL people requires resurrecting God's covenant promises (the promises thought to have died with the exile). And Luke makes it obvious that Jesus came to restart God's plan. How? He casts the story of John's birth in the context of Abraham. Both Abraham and Zechariah (John's father) were righteous (Gen. 15:6; Lk 1:6), blameless (Gen. 17:1; Lk. 1:6), advanced in years (Gen. 18:11; Lk 1:7), and had barren wives (Gen. 11:30; Lk 1:7). And then Luke shows how Jesus' birth (1:28-32) fulfills the Davidic covenant as depicted in Isaiah 9. Jesus is the Son of the Most High (Lk 1:32; Is. 9:6) who will reign forever (Lk 1:33; Is 9:7) on the throne of David (Lk 1:32; Is 9:7). Luke is trying to show that the covenants of old are back in action. They have been revived! God's rescue plan is on the move again! And so Luke strategically records the things that "must happen" (gr: dei) for God's plan to reach its final fulfillment (2:49; 4:43; 9:22; 13:33; 17:25; 21:9; 22:37; 24:7, 26; 24:44).

THE BIG OBSTACLE: MONEY
But God's rescue plan is not without its obstacles. If you read closely, you'll notice that the greatest obstacle (according to Luke) to people embracing Jesus is MONEY! Judas betrayed Jesus because of MONEY (Luke 22:3-6). The Pharisees refused to embrace Jesus' teaching because they loved MONEY (Luke 16:14). The rich young ruler refused to follow Jesus because of MONEY (Luke 18:18-30). MONEY served as an obstacle to God fulfilling His plan in the Old Testament and it is creating a stumbling block to Jesus in the New Testament! This is why Jesus emphasizes: you can't serve both God and money (Lk 16:13)! This is why the poor are blessed (Lk 6:20)...without the obstacle of MONEY, it is easier for them to embrace Jesus' kingdom blessings!

THE BOTTOM LINE
Now many people try to explain away the power and influence of money in their lives. I hear people say all the time, "Remember it's not money that is the root of all evil; it is the LOVE of money." I have a feeling that many people who make this statement actually LOVE money but just won't admit it. This, of course, is based off of Jesus' own litmus test in Luke 18:18-30: "If you're not willing to sell all you own for God then you're not completely in love with God...you're also in love with MONEY, STATUS, and POWER." As you can see, Jesus sets the bar high when it comes to MONEY. Based on His standard, ALL of us actually LOVE money to some degree! So how much do you love money? Are you more in LOVE with God or more in love with MONEY, STATUS, and POWER? How can you begin to value God more and MONEY, STATUS, and POWER less? That is Luke's question to you!

The Book of Psalms & the Torah

"We go to a Bible-based church." You've probably heard this statement before if you've hung out much in Christian circles. But what does it mean exactly? Does it mean that the church is centered around Bible studies and other similar types of Bible education opportunities? Or that the church holds to a conservative statement of faith that is grounded in the Bible alone? Or that the church is committed to living out the mission and precepts of the Bible? Or that the sermons on Sunday morning are expository (and NOT topical) in nature? To be honest, different people mean different things by this statement. And so the statement ends up becoming nothing more than a familiar Christian cliche devoid of much meaning.

But the Psalms make it clear that God does, in fact, desire His people to be TORAH-centered and His churches to be TORAH-based. The word TORAH literally means "teaching." And so the TORAH is simply referring to the teachings of the Bible (and sometimes it is limited to the teachings of the first FIVE books of the Old Testament). But God doesn't just want us to UNDERSTAND the TORAH. NO. He also wants us to OBEY the Torah. In fact, we show our delight in God's TORAH when we delight in doing God's WORK. But what does delighting in God's WORK look like (as presented in the Psalms)? Let's find out...

ANSWER #1: DESIRING TO RETURN GOODNESS BACK TO GOD
Did you know that the Book of Psalms has a repeated CHORUS? It does. And if you know anything about a CHORUS in a song, you know that it summarizes what the other lyrics in the song are trying to communicate. This is true also in the Bible. The book of Judges repeats the CHORUS, "And they did evil in the eyes of the Lord." The Song of Songs repeats the CHORUS, "Do not awaken love before it so desires." These CHORUSES give us hints as to the main message the author is wanting to communicate throughout the entire book.

So what is the CHORUS of the Psalms? "BLESSED be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting." This chorus is repeated FOUR times and comes at the end of each of the major divisions in the Psalms (41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52; 106:48). So what does this CHORUS mean? "BLESSED be the Lord" is an expression of our DESIRE to return BLESSING back to God. But don't be confused. It is NOT an expression of human PRIDE claiming that God needs us for Him to be blessed! NO. God is not dependent on us! But out of an overabundance of caution that the statement "BLESSED be the Lord" might be misunderstood in this pride-laden way, the NIV translates the phrase as "PRAISE be to God." But the two statements mean different things! We PRAISE God when we call to awareness God's greatness through our WORDS. On the other hand, BLESSING God is much more ACTIVE than this because it involves ACTIONS.

So how do we ACTIVELY show our DESIRE to BLESS God?

ANSWER #2: OBEYING GOD'S TORAH
The FOUR choruses divide the book of Psalms into FIVE separate sub-books (Pss. 2-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-145 with Ps. 1 and Pss. 146-150 serving as the introduction and conclusion, respectively). But is there significance in dividing the entire book into FIVE sub-books? YES. The TORAH (in the most limited sense of the term) consists of FIVE books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). And so the editor of the Psalms is trying to emphasize the centrality of the TORAH in the book of Psalms. And if you combine the editor's structuring of the book of Psalms (around the FIVE books of the TORAH) with the repeated CHORUS ("BLESSED be the Lord") you begin to see the main message of the Psalms: God is BLESSED when we OBEY the TORAH!

But what is at the HEART of OBEYING the Torah?

ANSWER #3: TRUSTING in God alone.
When we dig deeper into the content of the Psalms, we see a clear progression of thought from beginning to end. In the first two sub-books (Pss. 2-72), God's PROTECTION to David is celebrated. This PROTECTION is grounded in the covenant promise that God made with David that He would PROTECT David's dynasty and that a king from David's line would never cease to sit on the throne over God's kingdom (2 Sam. 7). And so in Psalms 2-72, words are repeated that communicate God's PROTECTION: refuge, salvation, redeemer, shield, deliverer, and vindicate.

But then in Psalms 73-89 (sub-book THREE), Israel's sin and God's judgment are lamented. The kings from David's dynasty prove to be rebellious (more times than not) and this instigates God's discipline and judgment. Psalms 73-89 mirror the unfaithfulness of Israel and God's response as documented in the historical books (Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles). And so words associated with Israel's UNFAITHFULNESS and God's JUDGMENT are prevalent in this section: fear, anger, judgment, iniquities, silence, wrath, troubles, rebellion, and sin. And then in Psalm 89, the Davidic covenant and dynasty come to their final demise and God's people are taken into exile. The Davidic dynasty had failed because of human rebellion!

But God still stands true to His promises! And so in light of God's faithfulness, the exiles raise the question, "How long O Lord?" and the Psalmist provokes God's people to place their trust NOT in human institutions (like the Davidic dynasty) but in God ALONE. And so we see in the final TWO sub-books that reliance and praise to God alone are prompted. And so words associated with DEPENDENCE and CELEBRATION are prevalent in this section: wait on the Lord, trust, praise, worship, thanks, joy, bless the Lord, and hope in the Lord.

THE BOTTOM LINE
And so God's people learned the hard way that trusting in humans as king (hb: malak) leads to lament while trusting in God as King leads to celebration. In fact, the flow of the psalms bears this fact out: The psalms of lament are concentrated in the first three sub-books of the Psalms while the psalms of praise and celebration are concentrated in the last two sub-books of the Psalms.

God wants our lives to be a celebration! But this will only happen when we make God King over our lives and delight in doing His WORK. And so as you grow in your DESIRE for God, OBEDIENCE to God, and TRUST in God may you find delight in doing God's WORK. And as a result may you experience God's GOODNESS. This, after all, is what being TORAH-based and TORAH-centered is all about!

John and the New Exodus

Last time we learned that John casts Jesus' life in the context of the CREATION account of Genesis. According to John, Jesus existed IN THE BEGINNING as the creative WORD. And so now Jesus is bringing a new BEGINNING to creation as demonstrated by the SEVEN signs He performed using the same creative WORDS as in Genesis. In fact, He performs his SIXTH sign using MUD (along with WORDS) as a symbolic act to call to remembrance God's creation of the woman from the MUD on the SIXTH day of creation. Clearly John wants us to know that Jesus was sent to RECREATE and reverse the Genesis curse. But John also wants us to know something else! Let's see what that is...

JESUS AND MOSES
John not only parallels Jesus' life to the Genesis account, he also parallels Jesus' life to that of Moses. Jesus was SENT by God (3:34; 4:34; 5:23-24, 36-38; 6:29, 38-39, 44, 57; 7:16, 18, 28, 29, 33 etc. with Exodus 3:12-15), Jesus performs SIGNS (2:11, 18, 23; 3:2; 4:48, 54; 6:2, 14, 26, 30 etc. with Exodus 3:12; 4:8ff), Jesus was LIFTED UP (just like the serpent in Numbers 21 with 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34), Jesus brings people living WATER (John 4:1-45 with Exodus 17:6), Jesus FEEDS the 5,000 (6:1-15 with Exodus 16), Jesus miraculously CROSSES the sea with his disciples (6:16-21 with Exodus 14), Jesus is the pillar of LIGHT to follow (8:12 with Exodus 13:21-22), Jesus is the manna BREAD from heaven (6:32-33, 41-58 with Exodus 16), and Jesus is 'I AM' (6:20 with Exodus 3:14). All of these images call to mind the book of Exodus and more generally the life of Moses!

JESUS AND THE FEASTS
Jesus also speaks about Himself in the Gospel of John using the backdrop of various Jewish Feast Days. And so Jesus calls Himself the "Bread of Life" and the "Bread from Heaven" during the Passover Feast. So how do Passover and these titles correspond to each other? Well, here is what Exodus 12:14-15, 17 says about the Passover in the Bible:

This day [Passover] shall be for you a MEMORIAL day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat Unleavened bread...for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.

The bread obviously serves as a REMINDER or memorial of the EXODUS and the rapidity with which the people had to be ready to leave Egypt. They did not have time for the bread to rise with leaven and therefore were instructed to make unleavened bread. But the feast also REMINDED the people of God's provision of MANNA after they left Egypt. By doing this, God sustained their very LIVES!

Jesus also calls Himself the LIGHT of the world during the Feast of Tabernacles. In John 8:12 Jesus specifically says, "I am the LIGHT of the world. Whoever FOLLOWS me will not WALK in DARKNESS, but will have the LIGHT of life." And we learn in Leviticus 23:42-43 that the Feast of Tabernacles REMINDED people of God's provision during the EXODUS:

You shall dwell in booths for seven days...that your generation may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

During Israel's time in the wilderness, God provided shelter and direction. He led His people with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. The fire served as a LIGHT to guide the people. God sustained His people's LIVES by doing this!

Jesus also calls Himself the "Door" and the "Good Shepherd" during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). While this feast is recorded in the history of the inter-testamental period, it is not recorded in the Jewish Scriptures (the Tanakh). But clearly this Feast celebrated the reconsecration of the Temple after Judas Maccabeus forced the withdrawal of the Seleucid forces from Jerusalem (who had desecrated the Temple by sacrificing unclean animals on the altar). Many probably believed that Judas was THE Messiah! But as it turned out, he wasn't. He died like everyone else and failed to completely free the Jewish people from their oppressors. It is tentatively against this backdrop that Jesus affirms His identity as the TRUE Messiah, the 'Good Shepherd', and the 'Door'. Jesus is not like Judas Maccabeus. NO. He is the TRUE Messiah who will TRULY lead His people out of slavery and into a new LIFE in GOOD pastures.

This is where Jesus' final affirmations about Himself come into play. Jesus is the 'resurrection and the LIFE', 'the way, the truth, and the LIFE', and the 'true vine'. What do these titles imply? In Jesus, people will truly find new LIFE. Jesus will bring His people to the Promised Land (figuratively speaking)! Judas Maccabeus couldn't bring people to a new LIFE or the Promised Land, but Jesus can! And Jesus will bring people to the Promised Land and accomplish this new LIFE through His resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit (God's very presence in people's lives!).

THE BOTTOM LINE
So what does this tell us about what it means to follow Jesus (according to Jesus)? Well, the book of John flows from CREATION (the Word) to the EXODUS (Moses) to the RECREATION (the Spirit). Jesus was sent to HEAL by RECREATING a broken world! Jesus was sent to bring about a new EXODUS by rescuing people out of DARKNESS and bringing them into the LIGHT! Jesus was sent to bring LIFE to His people!

But then Jesus tells His followers in John 20:21, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And so, HEALING people and bringing LIFE to people are at the CORE of following Jesus! And so I leave you with this question: What might 'being sent to HEAL and bring LIFE to others' look like in your everyday life? Do you bring LIFE to people through your words and actions or DEATH and discouragement? Have you tried to bring LIFE to your friends' spiritual needs by introducing them to Jesus?

John and The New Creation

The book of John ends with Jesus saying to Peter, "Follow me." While this statement seems simple enough, people have put their own spin on its meaning throughout church history. So can we know what is at the CORE of following Jesus (according to Jesus)? John gives us some answers in his gospel. Let's take a look.

THE NUMBER SEVEN
One of the key features in John's gospel is that it is structured around the number SEVEN. There are SEVEN "I AM" statements: The bread of life (6:35, 48), the light of the world (8:12; 9:5), the door (10:7), the good shepherd (10:11-14),  the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, the truth, and the life (14:6), and the true vine (15:1, 5).

Jesus performs SEVEN signs: water to wine (2:1-11), healing of the royal official's son (4:46-54), healing the paralytic (5:1-18), feeding the 5,000 (6:5-14), crossing the rough water in a boat (6:16-24), healing the blind man (9:1-7), and resurrecting Lazarus (11:1-45).

Some have even observed that Jesus was the SEVENTH resurrection in the Bible and that the resurrections from the Old Testament and the New Testament parallel each other! Take a look for yourself:

The Old Testament || The WIDOW'S son by Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24), The WEALTHY Shunammite's son by Elisha (2 Kings 4), The corpse touched by Elisha's dead body in his TOMB (2 Kings 13:20-21). The New Testament || The WIDOW'S son by Jesus (Luke 7:11-15), The WEALTHY ruler's daughter by Jesus (Mark 5:21-43), Lazarus called out of his TOMB by Jesus (John 11), Jesus' RESURRECTION. 

The validity of this observation would, of course, depend on John being familiar with the writings of both Mark and Luke who record the other two New Testament resurrection accounts.

THE CREATION THEME
So why is the number SEVEN such a big deal in John's gospel? Well, the opening chapter provides the answer.

IN THE BEGINNING was the WORD and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God...Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the LIGHT of all mankind. The LIGHT shines in the DARKNESS, and the DARKNESS has not overcome it. (John 1:1-4)

This passage (coupled with John's obsession with the number SEVEN) makes it clear that John is trying to identify Jesus' life with the CREATION account in the book of Genesis ("In the beginning God created..."). Just like God created light out of the darkness so too did Jesus bring LIGHT into the DARKNESS. Also, Jesus uses WORDS (just like Yahweh did in CREATION!) to perform each of the SEVEN signs (mentioned above).

And so when Jesus turns the water into wine, He doesn't use a magic wand (or a staff like Moses or a cloak like Elisha) to perform the SIGN. NO. He simply TELLS the servants what to do and something supernatural happens. Likewise, He TELLS the royal official "Go, your son will live"; He CALLS Lazarus out of the tomb; He BLESSES God when multiplying the fish and the bread; He TELLS the paralytic, "Get up, take up your mat and walk"; He uses the WORDS "I AM, do not be afraid" to reassure his disciples and bring them to safety across the rough waters; and He uses the WORDS "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" to heal the blind man. By doing this, Jesus is not only reminding us that God originally CREATED through His divine WORD ("And God said..."), He is also making the claim that God is now RECREATING through His divine WORD (that is, through Himself!...the Son FROM God!).

Of course with the healing of the blind man, Jesus doesn't just use WORDS...He also uses MUD. So why did Jesus use MUD for his SIXTH sign if He could have just as simply healed the blind man with his WORDS? Might this be a symbolic act by Jesus? And might Jesus be intentionally casting his miraculous SIGNS in the context of the creation story of Genesis where humans were created out of the MUD on the SIXTH day? Or are all of these parallels just coincidences?

THE BOTTOM LINE
It seems clear to me that John is identifying Jesus and His life with the CREATION account in Genesis. But is John making this connection just to show people that Jesus is GOD IN THE FLESH or is John ALSO trying to make a more practical (less apologetic) point? Certainly, John's gospel affirms Jesus' DEITY and EQUALITY with God. And this would certainly address some of the heresies (like early forms of gnosticism...google this!) possibly present at the time of John's writing. However, I believe that John's PRIMARY intention for writing his gospel is more practical (and less academic). I believe John is trying to help people understand HOW to FOLLOW JESUS.

So how does this CREATION theme factor into what John thinks is at the CORE of following Jesus (according to Jesus)? Well, there are other themes in the Gospel of John that need to be unearthed before we answer this question...so stay tuned!

Mark: Making Followers NOT Pharisees

In the previous blog we learned that Jesus is the Son FROM God. In other words, He is the long expected Messiah! And His teaching (which was inextricably intertwined with His miracles) attested to this fact. Jesus' miracles demonstrated that He had AUTHORITY over death, sickness, nature, and demons. In other words, Jesus had the POWER to reverse the fortunes of God's people and reverse the curses of Genesis. Jesus' manifestation of this POWER gave His teaching AUTHORITY and left the crowds AMAZED. Obviously Mark wants us to know that Jesus clearly fits the profile of the Messiah and that He is FROM God!

JESUS VERSUS THE PHARISEES
But Mark doesn't just want us (the readers) to know how AMAZING Jesus was. NO. He also wants the reader to know that the current religious establishment lacks God's AUTHORITY (in comparison to Jesus). This is why Mark is constantly contrasting Jesus with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law regarding religious observances (such as the Sabbath Day, the laws of ceremonial purity and cleanliness, and spiritual disciplines such as prayer and fasting). He makes this contrast explicit in Mark 1:22 when he writes, "Jesus taught them as one who had authority, AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES."

But why does Mark feel the need to undermine the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees? SIMPLE. The teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the Pharisees were diametrically opposed especially on the question: 'What does it look like to FOLLOW and HONOR God?' Jesus' vision of what it looks like to FOLLOW God centers on a MISSION to RESCUE sinful people whereas the Pharisees' vision centers on a MISSION to RETREAT from sinful people (Mark 2:13-17). In other words, Jesus came to HEAL the sick whereas the Pharisees tried to AVOID the sick. These two visions couldn't be more different! But whose teaching would the people trust? Who would the people look to for guidance? Jesus or the official religious establishment?

Well, the Pharisees and scribes sat in the positions of AUTHORITY within the Jewish establishment. This meant that WHEN they gave guidance to the people, the people would be more inclined to TRUST and FOLLOW them. But Mark wants the people to TRUST and FOLLOW Jesus (and not the PHARISEES). And so Mark (through his gospel) is attempting to de-authorize and de-legitimize the teachings of the Pharisees and scribes so that Jesus can hold his rightful place of honor and authority in the lives of people. And Mark accomplishes this by showing that Jesus (and not the Pharisees or scribes) is FROM God...that Jesus is God's AUTHORIZED agent...that Jesus is God's TRUE Son (and NOT the Pharisees)!

THE TRADITIONS OF MEN
Now Jesus' AUTHORITY over the Pharisees is made most evident when Jesus accuses the PHARISEES of "leaving the commandments of God and holding to the traditions of men" (7:1-13). So what specifically were the Pharisees doing? Mark 7:1-4 tells us. They took general Scriptural guidelines and added HUMAN TRADITIONS to them. And so for instance, when God instructed His people to "be clean," the Pharisees took this guideline and supplemented it with a HUMAN TRADITION (probably for the purpose of clarification) that required people to wash their hands after going to the marketplace which was infested with unclean sinners and Gentiles.

Sounds harmless right? But as we see elsewhere, this practice flows out of a RELIGIOUS MENTALITY where sinners and Gentiles are to be absolutely and utterly avoided (when at all possible). But this defies God's MISSION (and Biblical guidance)! How can God's people be RESCUING sinners if they are RETREATING from them? It's kind of like a fireman who is RETREATING from a burning house even though he is supposed to be RESCUING people. The fireman's ACTIONS defy the fireman's MISSION. The same is true for God's people! And so it is important that we make sure we are following Jesus and NOT the Pharisees!

THE BOTTOM LINE
So how can we make sure that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus and NOT resurrecting the human traditions of the Pharisees? For starters, we must be careful how we apply general principles from the Bible. For instance, "Be holy for God is holy" does NOT mean that people shouldn't laugh in a church service or wear jeans in the church building or play drums to accompany worship music or be seen at a movie theater. These are HUMAN TRADITIONS that cause the church to RETREAT (in a non-Biblical way) from sinners and God's MISSION!

So how should we apply the principle "be holy for God is holy?" The Bible does this for us! 'Being holy' means setting ourselves apart by putting on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience (Colossians 3:12-17). It means not "conforming to the former PASSIONS of your former ignorance" (1 Peter 1:14-16). And so 'being holy' is NOT about SUPERFICIAL OUTWARD APPEARANCE that reflects a Pharisaical mentality. NOPE. It's about SUPERNATURAL INWARD TRANSFORMATION that reflects God's character!

In all of this, we must remember that Jesus came to make followers and NOT Pharisees! And so we need to make certain that the TRADITIONS OF MEN are not overshadowing the COMMANDMENTS OF GOD in our lives and in our churches. Why? The MISSION of God's church and the LIVES of un-rescued people depend on it!

Mark: Making Followers NOT Fans

Let's just admit it, we all love being on the WINNING team. This is why it was so great being a Chicago Bulls FAN during the 1990's; it gave Chicago natives some relief from the Chicago Cubs' never ending World Series draught. During this timeframe, it was difficult (and expensive) to get good tickets to any of the Bulls games. Chicagoans were proud of THEIR team. WE were WINNING!

But then THEY started LOSING! Michael Jordan had hung up the towel (one too many times!) and the enthusiasm and the black market for tickets dried up. The FANS began to distance themselves from THAT losing team. And the only people left cheering were the faithful FOLLOWERS (and the businesses with sky boxes where games were never watched anyway!).

This is a common phenomenon in professional sports from which the term "fair-weather fan" has been coined. Unfortunately, Jesus also ran into his fair share of fair-weather FANS during his time. The Gospel of Mark tells us all about it. Let's take a look...

JESUS IS THE SON FROM GOD!
Right out of the gate, Mark tells us that he wants us to know something: Jesus is the Christ (heb: the Messiah). And then he clarifies what he means. Jesus is the Christ, the SON OF GOD (the two titles are in 'apposition'...google this!). You're probably thinking, "Thanks but no thanks for the clarification Mark! What on earth does the title SON OF GOD mean?" Well, it could mean 'God's Son' (a possessive genitive) or 'the Son FROM God' (a genitive of source or origin) or BOTH (the two are NOT mutually exclusive). So which one(s) is it? Well, Mark uses Jesus' baptism and miracles to try and clear up the matter.

At Jesus' baptism we learn that He is the beloved son of God with whom God is well pleased. And so Jesus' baptism communicates His divine ORIGIN and that His AUTHORITY is derived FROM God. Mark then further confirms Jesus' AUTHORITY by repetitively telling us (the readers), "The people were AMAZED at his teaching" (1:27; 2:12; 5:42; 9:15; 10:24; 10:32; 15:5) and "he taught them as one who had AUTHORITY not as the teachers of the law" (1:22; 1:27; 2:10; 3:15; 6:7; 11:28-33). Apparently the crowds also believed that Jesus was the Son FROM God!

But why were people so AMAZED at Jesus' TEACHING? Did He have a great delivery or use lots of voice inflections and hand gestures? NO. His TEACHING about the kingdom (1:15) was inextricably intertwined with His MIRACLES. Jesus' MIRACLES gave AMAZEMENT and AUTHORITY to His TEACHING and helped to establish Him as the Son FROM God.

And so it's no wonder that Mark recounts a litany of Jesus' MIRACLES (1:21-28; 1:29-34; 1:40-45; 2:1-12; 3:1-12): These MIRACLES establish Jesus' TEACHING AUTHORITY regarding the kingdom as well as His identity as the SON OF GOD. How do we know this for sure? Notice that the retelling of these MIRACLES in this first literary segment (1:1-3:12) are bookended (often referred to as an inclusio) with the claim that Jesus is the SON OF GOD (1:1; 3:11). And so Mark leaves no room for doubt. He wants us to know through the MIRACLES that Jesus is the Son FROM God.

JESUS THE ROCKSTAR
And so in His identity as the SON OF GOD, Jesus performs lots of MIRACLES. And so who wouldn't want to follow Jesus, the Son FROM God? Clearly the crowds did! Jesus was like a rockstar to them. Look how many times Mark refers to the 'crowds' (2:4, 13; 3:7, 8, 9, 20, 32; 4:1, 36; 5:24, 27, 30, 31; 6:34, 45; 7:33; 8:1, 2, 6, 34; 9:14, 15, 17, 25; 10:1, 46; 11:18; 14:43; 15:8, 11, 15). LOTS of people were chasing after Jesus! Jesus was healing people and improving their quality of living. And so following Him was a no-brainer! For this reason, it shouldn't surprise us that when Jesus calls his first disciples to follow Him, they "leave their nets AT ONCE." This was a privilege. It was like being selected to hangout with One Direction all day, everyday!

THE FOUR SOILS: NO FANS ALOUD!
But Jesus didn't come to gather a crowd of FANS. He came to coach and train a committed group of FOLLOWERS who would sacrifice for the cause of His God-AUTHORIZED mission. And so as the crowds continued to swell, Jesus tells the parable of the FOUR soils. What does this parable tell us? SIMPLE. Lots of people in the CROWD were willing to become FANS of Jesus BUT only a small group in the CROWD (the good soil group) had the type of soil it would take to FOLLOW Jesus and His kingdom teaching.

Only the good soil group had the right EARS to truly HEAR and OBEY. Jesus wanted to weed out (pardon the pun!) the other three types of people (pathway, rocky, thorny people) in the CROWD who would abandon Him anyway. These people would NOT be willing to do God's bidding when tribulation and persecutions arose or when the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked out their desire to put Jesus at the center of everything.

Both Jesus and Mark knew that these consumeristic type people in the CROWD (who were NOT willing to do God's will if doing so required any inconvenience) would later confirm that they are NOT Jesus' authentic brothers and sisters (Mark 3:20-35). This is confirmed later in the gospel when Jesus begins to announce that He will be crucified! Notice that after this announcement, the crowds begin to thin out. This trend is made evident through Mark's declining references after chapter 9 to the CROWDS. And so in the parable of the four soils, Jesus was trying to weed out the FANS because he knows that FANS only follow when their team is WINNING!

THE BOTTOM LINE
So let me ask you: Are you a FAN or a FOLLOWER? Sure Jesus is the SON OF GOD and has the AUTHORITY to do AMAZING things. But is this the only reason you have an interest in Jesus? Are you looking for what Jesus will do for you or what you have the privilege of doing for Jesus and His cause? My prayer is that you will choose to be a FOLLOWER of Jesus and NOT just a FAN for the sake of God's mission and glory.

Matthew and Denying Our Rights

So far we've learned that according to Matthew's gospel, Jesus came to BLESS ALL people (just like Abraham) by FREEING them from an EVIL kingdom (just like Moses) and bringing them into His GOOD kingdom under His good RULE (just like David). So how did Jesus envision His people going about BLESSING ALL people on the earth? Let's find out...

THE UPSIDE DOWN KINGDOM 

In Matthew 16, Jesus foretells of His imminent death and this surprises and disturbs His disciples. How can the Messiah be put to death? Didn't the Old Testament promise a conquering Messiah (versus a dead one) who would reign with EARTHLY POWER? These are some of the questions that might have been going through the minds of Jesus' followers. But Jesus came to serve and not to be served (20:28). And He calls His disciples to the same posture..."if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up His cross and follow me (16:24)." Jesus' kingdom is upside down in relation to the kingdoms of this earth!

But the disciples struggle to embrace Jesus' upside down kingdom. We see this in Matthew 18 when the disciples argue over who will be the greatest in the kingdom. This provides Jesus the opportunity for a teachable moment. Jesus essentially tells his disciples, "People can't embrace My kingdom without first letting go of their supposed RIGHTS! If you want to follow me you need to become like a child who has no inherent RIGHTS (18:2-4)." 

But what does it look like to give up your RIGHTS? Well, if your hand causes you to sin then you need to give up the RIGHT to your body by cutting off your hand (hyperbolically speaking) for the sake of kingdom PURITY (18:7-9). We need to give up our RIGHT to look out for our self-interests and instead look out for the needs of others (especially the most vulnerable) for the sake of kingdom CARE (18:10-14). If your brother sins against you, you need to give up your RIGHT to hold a grudge by taking the uncomfortable step of approaching your brother in love and working through the situation for the sake of kingdom UNITY (18:15-20). Similarly, we need to be willing to give up our RIGHT to collect on non-financial debts by forgiving others for the sake of kingdom GRACE (18:21-35). Additionally, we need to be willing to give up our RIGHT to divorce for the sake of kingdom COMMITMENT (19:1-12) and our RIGHT to our possessions and wealth for the sake of kingdom GENEROSITY (19:16-30).

Matthew gives these practical examples to flesh out Jesus' kingdom principle that "the first will be last and the last will be first." While STATUS (and the pursuit of MORE) governs the kingdoms of this world, SERVICE (and the pursuit of HUMILITY) governs Jesus' kingdom. If you read Matthew 20:1-16, you'll see that Jesus illustrates this fact with a parable that depicts how the kingdom of God works (in contrast to our world). What is the point of this parable? The first receive the SAME as the last! STATUS is irrelevant in Jesus' kingdom! We all receive the SAME blessing in God's humble economy.

OPPOSITION TO THE KINGDOM

But Jesus' kingdom will be a BIG disappointment for people who are addicted to STATUS. And this is why the twelve disciples were disappointed when Jesus began talking about his death and also why the RELIGIOUS LEADERS were hostile toward Jesus. These religious leaders were too PROUD to receive Jesus and accept his invitation to the wedding banquet and so they were excluded and rejected (21:28-22:22); they didn't want to embrace the profile of a citizen in Jesus' kingdom. And this is a problem because the coming of Jesus' kingdom requires the REMOVAL of STATUS, PRIDE, and INJUSTICE. This is why Jesus CURSED the TEMPLE. It was a 'den of robbers' where STATUS, PRIDE, and INJUSTICE were covertly housed and so it had to be destroyed. And so we see that Matthew makes the Temple and the religious leaders a focus in his gospel (Matthew 21-25) because they stand in opposition (and serve as a roadblock) to God's desire to BLESS ALL people.

THE BOTTOM LINE
So how does this speak to our lives? God desires to BLESS all people. But for this to happen, STATUS, PRIDE, and INJUSTICE must be destroyed and replaced with HUMILITY, UNITY, CARE, GENEROSITY, PURITY, COMMITMENT, and GRACE. These values (among others) fit the profile of Jesus' kingdom which is FREE from the PAIN of the Genesis CURSES.

And so how did Jesus envision BLESSING ALL people on the earth? In part, through His followers as they embody these kingdom values and spread Jesus' RULE in this world. And so Jesus leaves you with this question: Are you willing to EMBRACE and SPREAD His kingdom (with ALL that it entails) by being a BLESSING to ALL people?

Matthew and the Abrahamic Covenant

Have you ever 'people-watched' before? You know sat and just observed the people around you. Sounds a little sketchy and stalker-ish I know. But you can seriously learn a lot about the world just by sitting in a park or a shopping mall or a coffee shop watching people (but just don't wink!). One of the things you'll notice almost immediately is that people who hang out together usually look similar. I mean it's rare to find a leathered up biker dude with tatts and a bushy ZZ Top beard having coffee with a decked out businessman who has a close shave and a bluetooth headset. Why? Most people enjoy being around other people who are just like themselves. People who dress the same, have similar interests, have a similar standard of living, believe the same things politically, and come from a similar culture (or subculture).

This sounds harmless doesn't it? But this can pose a problem when it comes to FOLLOWING JESUS. Why? Jesus hung out with a motley crew of people (tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and rich young rulers). This means that FOLLOWING HIM requires that we do the same. If we don't, then we can't 'fulfill' His mission and purposes. Why? Let's find out...

JESUS, A NEW TYPE OF ABRAHAM
So far we've learned that Jesus came to FREE people from an EVIL kingdom (just like Moses) and bring them into a GOOD kingdom that He RULES (just like David). But who did Jesus come to FREE and RULE? ALL people. How do I know this? Matthew's genealogy of Jesus communicates to us that Jesus came to bless ALL people (just like Abraham).

Notice that Matthew emphasizes Jesus' connection to ABRAHAM by beginning his genealogy with the title, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David and the son of ABRAHAM." But then he does something sneaky. He includes FOUR references to WOMEN in his genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah's wife (Bathsheba). Usually WOMEN were not included in genealogies because the family lineage was traced through the male. And so this is a little suspicious!

So why are these WOMEN included in the genealogy? Matthew gives us a hint by referencing Bathsheba as "the wife of Uriah." Uriah was NOT an Israelite! He was a Hittite! But what about the other WOMEN? Ruth was a Moabite. Rahab was from Jericho. Tamar was from Er. All of the women were GENTILES (that is, non-Jews) or considered GENTILE because of their association with them!

So what is Matthew trying to communicate by including these WOMEN in the genealogy? God-fearing GENTILES have always been BLESSED by God. In other words, there is a history of God including GENTILES in His plan of salvation! And so by extension, Jesus didn't come just to FREE and RULE the Israelites. NO. He came to FREE and RULE ALL people (including the GENTILES)! In other words, Jesus came to BLESS ALL people!

GENTILES RECEIVE JESUS
The interesting thing is that the GENTILES were more willing to receive the BLESSING of Jesus than the JEWS. For according to Matthew, the GENTILES welcome and worship Jesus while the prominent JEWISH people in Jerusalem are threatened by Him. Matthew emphasizes this fact by contrasting the FAITH of the Gentiles with the FAITH of the JEWISH people. It begins with the contrast between the GENTILE Magi who worship Jesus (2:1-12) and the JEWISH Jerusalem leaders who are 'troubled' by Jesus.

This contrast continues with the twelve JEWISH disciples who can't heal or perform miracles because of their lack of FAITH (14:22-33; 16:5-12; 17:14-20) while the OUTCASTS and GENTILES are healed because of their FAITH (8:5-13; 9:1-8; 9:18-26; 9:27-31; 15:21-28; 17:14-20). In a similar vein, the JEWISH religious leaders are rejected because of their lack of FAITH but the GENTILES are accepted because of their FAITH (more on this in the next blog!). What does this tell us? FAITH is what matters and NOT a person's race or background! JESUS is an equal opportunity Savior. And so JESUS FOLLOWERS need to reach out and build into people based on their FAITH (and openness to Jesus) and NOT their status, race or background! But this will be UNCOMFORTABLE!

But Jesus was willing to GO to earth and be UNCOMFORTABLE for the sake of BLESSING ALL the WORLD. The same was true with Abraham. Remember that God called Abraham to leave His pagan culture and "GO from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you...I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." God called Abraham to forsake his family in order to follow God. Does that sound like something Jesus said (Matthew 10:37)? And God told Abraham to GO. Does that sound like something Jesus said (Matthew 28:19)? And God told Abraham to bless ALL the families of the EARTH. Does that sound like something Jesus said (Matthew 28:19)? Jesus' life revived and jumpstarted the Abrahamic Covenant and God's mission (something that had been lost by the Jewish leaders who were focused on good behavior and Sabbath synagogue attendance).

THE BOTTOM LINE
And now Jesus is calling YOU and ME to GO and be UNCOMFORTABLE for the sake of BLESSING the WORLD. God called Abraham to GO and be UNCOMFORTABLE for the sake of BLESSING the WORLD. God called Jesus to GO to earth and be UNCOMFORTABLE for the sake of BLESSING the WORLD. We need to do the same! If we aren't willing to GO and reach ALL people then we can't 'fulfill' Jesus' mission. Are you willing to GO and be UNCOMFORTABLE for the sake of Jesus' MISSION or are you satisfied just being a well behaved person and a faithful church attender?